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MRUC adds Andhra Pradesh data to IRS Q3 2019 report
MUMBAI: Media Research Users Council (MRUC) on Monday released an updated report of Indian Readership Survey (IRS) for the third quarter of 2019 that includes data from Andhra Pradesh too. The quarter three report was already published on 27 December 2019 sans Andhra Pradesh’s data in the view of the sample short.
The report mentioned that Andhra Pradesh has sustained its level at 16 per cent in Q3, same as that in Q2 2019, in the category 'To Understand and Read the English Language Content', whereas it had marginally increased in Q1.
With respect to total readership and average issue readership, Andhra Pradesh reported a decreased performance at 26 per cent and 11.1 per cent respectively in Q3 against 28 per cent and 12.5 per cent in quarter two of 2019.
Since the southern state’s data was yet to incorporate in the Q3 report, the industry had to refrain from the comparative analysis and from publishing their all India numbers/rankings.
The IRS 2019 Q3 report is rolling average of the last quarter of 2017 and subsequent three quarters of (Q1+Q2+Q3) of 2019. The fieldwork covers between August 2019 and November 2019.
The report earlier had also failed to add the fieldwork data from Jammu and Kashmir affected because of administrative and political developments in the region.
The IRS Q3 report includes data of all India ranking for dallies, magazines and radio stations.
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Practo names Cijo George as vice president of artificial intelligence
New vice president of artificial intelligence to mine healthcare data and sharpen care delivery
BENGALURU: India’s healthtech race just picked up speed. Practo has appointed Cijo George as vice president of artificial intelligence, tasking him with wiring AI deep into the company’s sprawling healthcare platform.
George will steer AI strategy and execution, embedding machine intelligence across care navigation, doctor-facing tools and overall platform intelligence. He will work across product, engineering and clinical teams to rewire how patients search for and access care — and how doctors deliver treatment with greater consistency and precision.
He reports directly to Shashank ND, co-founder and chief executive officer.
Shashank ND said years of building healthcare data across patients, providers and treatment outcomes had laid the foundation for more advanced AI applications. Artificial intelligence, he added, can unlock the value of that data to improve patient outcomes and equip doctors with actionable insights. He described George’s experience in building production-grade AI systems as closely aligned with Practo’s long-term vision.
George brings nearly two decades of experience spanning machine learning, AI platforms and product engineering. Most recently at Observe.AI, he led work on large-scale AI systems deployed by global enterprises. Before that, at Belong.co, he drove platform and AI initiatives focused on search and personalisation in the HR technology space. He also worked with the Advanced Technology Group at NetApp, contributing to machine-learning and data-science projects for distributed systems.
An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Science with a master’s degree in high performance computing, George said the chance to apply AI to directly improve patient experience and clinical delivery drew him to the role. Practo’s scale and its extensive longitudinal healthcare data, he added, offer significant room for innovation.
The move comes as digital health platforms double down on artificial intelligence to boost patient engagement, streamline provider workflows and sharpen decision-making. For Practo, the prescription is clear: turn data into diagnosis, and algorithms into advantage.
