HT gets stronger in Mumbai; HT Delhi continues as No. 1

As per the latest round (2011 Q4) of the Indian Readership Survey, Hindustan Times continues to grow its readership, adding nearly 2 Lakh daily readers nationally ' the highest by any English newspaper ' vs last year (2010 Q4)

In Mumbai, HT consolidated its position as the No 2 Broadsheet English daily for the 6th time in a row, and is the only one to have grown in 13 out of the last 14 IRS rounds. HT grew by 27% to a 7.81 lakh daily readership during the last year, while the readership for The Times of India remained broadly flat in the same period. Just in the last period, HT readership grew by 29K. With this, HT Mumbai now reaches more than 5 lakh exclusive readers who are not reached by TOI.

In Delhi, HT continues to strengthen further, remaining the most-read newspaper for the eighth time in a row. HT also continues to be the most read newspaper of Delhi NCR with 22.25 lakhs daily readers [Average Issue Readership]. Hindustan Times also reaffirmed its position as the undisputed choice for the premium and affluent readers in the territory and now leads The Times of India by nearly 1.55 lakh premium SEC A readers.

Hindustan strengthens No.2 position, continues the path of rapid growth

Hindustan, the Group's Hindi daily, strengthened its No 2 position among all newspapers in India with a huge 3.81 crore Total Readership, which represents an addition of nearly 30 lakh readers in the past year (v/s IRS Q4 2010). The paper continues to be the dominant No. 1 in Bihar and Jharkhand and is the fastest-growing Hindi daily in Uttar Pradesh.

Commenting on the results of all HT Media publications, Rajiv Verma, CEO of HT Media Ltd., said, "While Hindustan Times has for long been No 1 in Delhi and No 2 in Mumbai, and Hindustan and Mint have consolidated their positions in their respective markets, as a group we are disappointed that these IRS numbers don't reflect the full picture of our growth, and the reality of our investments and our efforts in the various markets of UP and Mumbai, and Mint across the country. However, we will continue to invest in our various markets, to meet the needs of our readers and our advertisers, and will hope that the readership growth will be fully captured going forward."