HT and TOI up, ET down in ABC H1 2026 circulation
The Audit Bureau of Circulations has published average qualifying circulation for January to June 2026. Hindustan Times and The Times of India grew across their listed editions. The Economic Times declined. The movement that matters is city by city.
- Pull the edition-level circulation list before you brief a newspaper insert plan, because Lucknow grew for both Hindustan Times and The Times of India while other cities in the same titles fell.
- Treat these figures as circulation alone, since the Audit Bureau of Circulations measures average qualifying circulation and does not establish any change in readership, advertising revenue or profitability.
- Check which editions sit outside a comparison before you read a title-level total, because The Economic Times like for like base excludes Patna, Ranchi and Ahmedabad-Vadodara.
- Ask your print vendor for the January to June 2026 qualifying circulation of each edition you are actually buying, not the combined number for the title.
The Audit Bureau of Circulations has released average qualifying circulation for January to June 2026, set against January to June 2025. Storyboard18 reported the numbers on 29 October. The article is explicit that the data covers only the editions in the supplied list. It is not total national circulation. It also notes that a January to June window against the same months a year earlier gives a consistent seasonal reference point.
Hindustan Times rose 2.1 per cent across its five listed editions, from 6,19,280 to 6,32,321. New Delhi, printed at Noida, carried almost all of that, moving from 6,06,018 to 6,18,217. Lucknow grew 34.5 per cent, from 3,142 to 4,226. Varanasi rose 7.5 per cent, from 2,144 to 2,304. Patna fell 4.9 per cent, from 5,469 to 5,202. Ranchi fell 5.4 per cent, from 2,507 to 2,372.
The Times of India rose about 1.1 per cent across its listed editions, from 16,40,418 to 16,58,970. Sambhaji Nagar gained 14.9 per cent off a small base. Manesar gained 7.3 per cent, Lucknow 5.2 per cent and Jaipur 4.1 per cent. Bareilly fell 7.4 per cent, Indore 4 per cent and the Ahmedabad editions 1 per cent.
The Economic Times fell about 2 per cent on a like for like basis, from 2,55,567 to 2,50,528. Hyderabad fell 8.5 per cent, Kolkata 5.9 per cent and Bengaluru 2.9 per cent. Chennai rose 5.2 per cent and Lucknow 2 per cent against the trend. Two exclusions move that base. The Patna and Ranchi editions carried a Not Submitted marking in both periods. The Ahmedabad-Vadodara edition, listed at 4,987 for 2026, was left out because the 2025 data held no comparable figure.
One caveat belongs in every reading of this data. The Audit Bureau of Circulations measures average qualifying circulation. It does not by itself establish a change in readership, in advertising revenue or in profitability.
Print is the pricing base for newspaper insert distribution, and insert rates are quoted by edition. So the useful finding here is not a verdict on the medium. It is that the movement is per city, not per title. Lucknow rose for two titles at once. Buy the edition list, not the masthead.
Zane’s analysis draws on original reporting by Storyboard18. Read the original report.