Readership surveys in India are becoming controversial. The Indian Newspaper Society (ins), for example, has decided to conduct surveys challenging the Indian Readership Survey (irs) by the Media Research Users Council. The latter claimed newspaper readership is declining in India. ins cites increasing sales figures to counter this.
Figures of the National Readership Survey (nrs) have also been disputed. irs and nrs often come up with conflicting figures, both boasting of using authentic methodologies. The Audit Bureau of Circulations (abc), a body of publishers and advertisers, uses rules on trade margins-copy sale accounts to determine numbers. It's a dubious method in a market where publishers often manipulate sales by giving free copies. Magazine publishers have never been happy with abc rules, even though abc norms are more flexible now.
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