Print medium for advertisers has long been a trusted medium with its reach and scope widely determined by the circulation numbers. Now, the last Indian Readership Survey (IRS) took place in 2019. The industry has gone through various upheavals and changes since then, rendering this 4-year-old data pretty difficult to bank upon.

So, what did the advertisers do in this sticky situation? They leaned towards figures and trends based on Audit Bureau Circulation (ABC) data for media planning and buying. A bunch of publishers have also been banking upon data provided by the Target Group Index (TGI) and Global Web Index (GWI) for making informed decisions.

To put things in context, these data providers audit the circulations of major publications in India, mainly newspapers and magazines. They also study consumer attitudes, habits, motivations, and behaviours, while delivering audience information to publishers, media agencies and marketers.

Hence, the dearth of such crucial information is bound to be an impediment for advertisers. Due to pandemic-related restrictions, the Media Research Users Council India (MRUC India) halted IRS in 2020. How have marketers navigated these tricky waters, we asked our industry experts.

According to Shashank Shrivastava, Senior Executive Officer - Marketing and Sales, Maruti Suzuki, alternatives like ABC (Audit Bureau of Circulation) are supply-side tools to cross-verify circulation numbers. They offer edition-wise circulation of the 562 dailies and 50-odd magazines.  However, it only helps in broadly comparing the publications.

He further said that other alternatives like TGI (Target Group Index) and GWI (Global Web Index) are smaller data sets, which give broader indicative media habits and consumption but do not have a large sample size, and do not cover the entire Bharat as IRS did.

“Neither advertisers nor publishers have pre- and post-Covid comparison of readership numbers. Without IRS, there is a lot of vacuum in media planning for print and radio planning,” Shrivastava noted.

A senior media planner, on the condition of anonymity, said: “In the absence of readership numbers, we are going by circulation numbers.” He further added, “Many of us don’t consider pre-COVID data as since then there have been a lot of changes. Circulation numbers are available for some of the editions that publishers decided to report and some are not but that's the only data available basis which many of us are taking decision.”

‘Trust on Print Remains’

Despite the absence of IRS data, advertisers have continued advertising on print as the medium is still considered one of the most credible sources of news and information, and print continues to be an important part of the media mix for most marketers.

Rajiv Dubey, Head of Media, Dabur India asserts Print is the most credible medium when it comes to news and information and at Dabur, they have continued advertising with print. However, he believes that as an advertiser he wants to know the current picture in terms of circulation and readership figures. “Newspapers are most trusted, as far as the news and information is concerned. There is still a huge amount of trust there and that's the reason why advertisers choose to advertise on the medium.”

“We have looked at various data points, like for example, our own feedback and understanding of the market. We have also considered the old data but the sad fact is that the newspapers are not able to drive new readership because they are not getting any new users for their product. The publishers fear that once the advertisers come to know that there is a drop in circulation or readership, they will ask for a lower rate,” he further added.

IRS is the only consumer response-based reading statistics provider for media and product consumption across India. It has a sample size of over 3.3 lakh households in both urban and rural areas, which is second only to the census, and it covers over 600 publications and 70+ product categories. It also provides important insights into changes in socioe-conomic statistics (NCCS) and cross-media comparison from the user's perspective.

Asked about the status of bringing back the IRS, IPG Mediabrands India CEO Shashi Sinha, who is also the Chairman of MRUC, said the survey has not started. “Nothing has been discussed right now.”

As per Shrivastava, in the absence of IRS it was getting difficult to ascertain print (dailies and magazines) readership and radio listenership data. “Further, information on segment-level like key markets, demographic segments, population strata and language which is highly crucial for media planning is not available. Hence, it is difficult to do granular media planning and rate negotiations with publishers.”

As for Dubey, there is huge trust in newspapers and Dabur India will continue to advertise for whatever it is worth. “One has to correct the pricing and then start advertising in the medium. The industry should not fear and come out with the data bravely. All players in the business can act accordingly to improve their business. Everything now is so data-dark.”

It is important to note that IRS and ABC are two of the most crucial data sources for advertisers and planners in the print sector. While the IRS survey has not been carried out for over two years, advertisers and planners are left with ABC data, which is also not particularly reliable because many publishers elected to remove their editions from the audit during the 2022 audit.

Meanwhile, in March this year, ABC decided to withdraw the option earlier offered to publisher members for six monthly circulation audits for the year 2023 since it would not be in the interest of the industry at large when few publications opt for six monthly audits and others opt for annual audit. “Accordingly, for the year 2023 and onwards only annual audits would be undertaken for all member publications for the period January to December which would be mandatory for all member publications as earlier decided and communicated to all members,” read the official statement by ABC.

As per the senior media planner, advertisers continue to advertise on print despite lack of data because the medium is credible and there is immediate response from consumers. “While the lack of data affects the industry, advertisers won't stop advertising on print completely.”