Indian Readership Survey

(IRS)
Indian Readership Survey or IRS is one of the largest
readership survey conducted in India. Conducted by
Hansa Research for Media Research User's Council
( MRUC), IRS covers readership for newspapers, internet
usage, television veiwership .
Established in 1995 IRS data is widely used by media
planners for finalising the media strategy. Besides giving
the readership habits, IRS also provides valuable insights
into the consumption habits of the Indian consumer.

According the Hansa Reaseach, the information

coverage of IRS is as follows
Media data study includes the following :
Press Readership: 350 + Publications
TV: 150+ channels
Cinema
Internet
Radio Listener ship: 15+ Radio Stations
Product data for the following is captured
70+ FMCG products usage and consumption habits
30+ Durable products ownership details
Financial Services
Urban & Rural Lifestyle Indicators
Telecom Data ( Source: Hansaresearch.com)

IRS uses sample from 24 states 91

cities covering a 250,000 respondents.

IRS survey results are dissected by the media

executives to prove their reach and cost
advantages.
IRS is done twice a year and right now IRS
round 1 2007 is out.

Although IRS is used by most of the media

planners, there are always some controversy
surrounding the results. Since this is a sample
based results, one can always question the
statistical inferences.
Every time the survey results are out, there are
bound to be objections and blaming. To counter
IRS, another survey is also there in the
readership domain i.e National Readership
Survey ( NRS).Combining both the results help
media planners to chose the right media across
markets. But all these surveys give only
approximations.