6-Month Delay for 'World's Largest Survey' IRS

The release of 2016 data from the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) has been postponed by six months, and is now promised for the third quarter of 2017.

The data was scheduled to appear in January, followed by regular quarterly updates. The survey is billed as 'the world's largest' - with 330,000 respondents, following a forty percent increase in sample size to cover 91 Individual Districts and 101 District Clusters across India.

NP Sathyamurthy, Chairman of the Technical Committee of audience body MRUC, confirmed the time frame to web site www.exchange4media.com , citing the need for 'technical enhancements' which had pushed back the second round of fieldwork by 50 to 70 days; and the introduction of 'enhanced security measures for data collection'. MRUC Chief Exec Radhesh Uchil (pictured) said an official confirmation had been sent out to publishers and subscribers. Both men were appointed to the roles last autumn.

The IRS is administered by the Readership Studies Council of India (RSCI), formed jointly by the Media Research Users Council (MRUC) and the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC). In 2014, the release of findings from the survey was temporarily suspended following complaints it contained 'shocking anomalies', by several members of the Indian Newspaper Society (INS). Publication of results was then resumed after a further delay for re-validation and auditing of fieldwork.