IRS pilot likely in 3 markets, to study both print & digital readership

Posted on 28th Aug 2025

MRUCI may rope in Prasoon Basu’s firm Inteliphyle for the survey, say sources

source : e4m

After a six-year hiatus, the Media Research Users Council of India (MRUCI) is contemplating conducting a three-city pilot Indian Readership Survey (IRS) to track changing readership patterns — across both print and digital news platforms, industry sources told e4m. 

“The council, in its board meeting earlier this month, discussed conducting a pilot survey across three markets to cover both print and digital news readership. However, a consensus on the selection of these markets is yet to be reached,” executives told e4m.

Executives say the name of markets, along with the sample size, methodology, and survey timeline, are likely to be finalized in the next meeting. The survey should include urban and semi-urban populations. 

According to sources, the council may rope in Inteliphyle, a research firm led by Prasoon Basu, former executive at Kantar and Nielsen, to execute the much-awaited survey. 

When asked about the details of the IRS pilot test, Shailesh Gupta, Chairman of MRUCI, told e4m, “It would be premature to make any statement at this point.”

Notably, MRUCI has held several meetings over the past year on the survey but members never arrived at consensus. From the funding formula to survey methodology to the choice of agency and scope of survey, several aspects have been debated extensively without resolution.

e4m earlier reported that several key members of the Council are increasingly skeptical of the traditional door-to-door survey model, citing restricted access to housing societies post-COVID and rising privacy concerns. They cited that metro residents were less willing to spare 45 minutes for interviews, which could compromise the reliability of urban data and, in turn, the credibility of the IRS.

Publishers had also argued that the cost and complexity of resuming the survey may no longer be justifiable, especially as its relevance was being questioned in an increasingly digital-driven planning environment.

Last survey in 2019

The last survey was conducted in 2019. Since then, its rollout has been stalled — first due to the pandemic and later because of funding challenges. 

Meanwhile, India’s advertising industry has crossed ?1.1 lakh crore in 2024, with print’s share in overall ad spends at 15–16%. This means the print industry still commands a significant ?15,000–16,000 crore in ad revenues — making the currency even more critical for advertisers, particularly in today’s tight economic climate, where every marketing rupee is under close scrutiny.

The deadlock has triggered an industry-wide debate on whether the traditional readership survey can capture the full picture, given the explosive growth of digital news, short-form video, and social media consumption. Many observers also pitch for a wider study to gauge the consumption of all media platforms, along with print. 

Rajiv Dubey, Vice President and Head of Media at Dabur India, advocates replacing the legacy approach with a more AI-powered “media universe survey.”

“This survey wouldn't just count impressions,” Dubey wrote in his e4m column on Monday. “It would span print, TV, magazines, social, short-form video, OTT, digital news, and e-commerce, mapping the complete shopper journey and capturing cross-channel behaviour. It would be dynamic and always-on, not a dusty annual publication — offering real-time, actionable insights across platforms, channels, and devices.”

It would be worth watching to see whether the IRS evolves into a tech-driven, hybrid measurement system or continues with its legacy print-first approach or it loses its relevance forever, said an industry leader.