By A Correspondent

The print media has had strong patrons over the years. But in more recent times, where digital has taken rapid strides globally and in India too, while the number of people propagating the benefits of the media hasn’t diminished, if there’s one person who not only aggressively champions the cause of print but also asks the trade media to promote it, it’s Girish Agarwaal, promoter and director of the Dainik Bhaskar group.

Agarwaal spoke of the rapid growth of print despite naysayers, quoting his own newspaper’s example which he says is indeed a “very big deal”.

The rise in newsprint prices which saw at least one newspaper group declaring that it’s going to cut its print run to cut costs is not something that Agarwaal too bothered about. “It’s cyclical, and will come down in a few quarters,” he told mediapersons.

On Tuesday, Agarwaal and team had convened a presser to announce the rapid strides his paper had seen in Bihar in just a year of launch. It commissioned Hansa Research, the agency which would undertake the IRS research until it was upstaged by Nielsen a few years back, to map the length and breadth of Bihar to conduct the study.

A sample of over 2000 people conducted the study, and the results show that Dainik Bhaskar is a close #2 in the state, ahead of Dainik Jagran and Prabhat Khabar. As per the study, DB is at #2 with an AIR of 9.11 lakh and Hindustan continues to lead at 9.98 lakh. But in Patna city, DB is #1 with AIR of 5.07 lakh

Interestingly, DB has attracted the highest number of women readers amongst its peers. Its number is 47 per cent, as against 44 per cent being the next best.

Readership Survey Report Bihar 2018