What engaged Indian Express readers in 2023

Despite this being such a newsy year in politics, the most popular story was about how a surprise birthday trip to Manali turned into a nightmare for Pune couple, a story that was read by almost 2 million readers. The second most popular story was the Karnataka elections results earlier in the year, followed by the Chandrayaan-3 moon landing. While a side story on how Lionel Messi’s wife reacts to Shakira’s Insta post went crazy viral at the start of the year, the top sports story for us was the Chennai Super King’s IPL victory over Gujarat Titans which found more reader interest than the World Cup finals.

📌 Here is a list of other Express stories that found wide readership:

1. ‘Surviving on bread, fighting for refunds’: Indian students in Canada struggle to find housing, food, jobs

2. Tamil actor Abbas on quitting films, working as a mechanic and driving taxis in New Zealand: ‘I was financially destitute, unable to afford basic necessities’

3. Titanic Submersible Search Highlights

4. ‘I have come to play in the IPL, not to take abuses,’ says Naveen-ul-Haq: The man at the centre of Kohli and Gambhir on-field spat once had a tiff with Afridi 

5. Chess World Cup 2023 Final Highlights: India’s Praggnanandhaa finishes 2nd after valiant fight with World No 1 Magnus Carlsen  

6. 69th National Film Awards 2023 complete winners list: Rocketry, Alia Bhatt, Kriti Sanon, Allu Arjun win big

7. Turkey Earthquake Highlights: Death toll crosses 12,000; one Indian missing, 10 stuck in remote parts

8. From Indian passport to son’s school admission, Pakistani spy built a new life in Pune — until cops came knocking

9. Posing as UAE royal family staff, man stays at Delhi’s Leela Palace Hotel for months, leaves without paying bills worth over Rs 23 lakh 

10. Vegan influencer Zhanna Samsonova dies at 39: Can a raw vegan diet lead to severe protein deficiency and malnutrition? 

✍️ Our opinion section draws millions of readers every month, offering views from across the spectrum. In 2023, our top-read opinion pieces were:

1. Sagarika Chakraborty, the real-life Mrs Chatterjee of ‘Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway’, writes: Don’t dismiss it as fiction, I lived this story

2. After Pune teacher’s arrest: Fear and surveillance in the classroom, by Avijit Pathak 

3. Dear Aryan Khan: A police officer’s apology, by Abhinav Kumar

4. I am not sad that India lost the World Cup. Hyper-nationalism has ruined cricket for me, by Avijit Pathak

5. ‘Friends’ star Matthew Perry’s troubled life and the anonymity he craved — and never got, by Sandip Roy

🔍 Another section that has now become the core of Express is Explained. Our Explained explained everything that made our readers curious. The top-read explainers were:

1. How Jews first migrated to Palestine, and how Israel was born  

2. The ‘Gandhi’ in Rahul Gandhi’s surname: The remarkable life and career of Feroze Gandhi

3. How the Sikh migration to Canada began 

4. SC verdict on abrogation of Article 370 Explained 

5. Budget 2023 Explained

A significant set of our regular readers now are paid subscribers, ensuring they don’t miss out on anything their favourite and most-trusted news source offers. We have over the years noticed how our subscribers have a different, more evolved, reading pattern. This year, along with topics like Modi and Congress, they engaged with serious news topics around the Supreme Court, Parliament, Israel, China and Pakistan. Interestingly, along with Opinion and Explained, they also found our new Political Pulse and UPSC sections habit forming. The top stories for this segment of readers were clearly related to the Israel-Hamas war.

🔐 Here are the stories most popular with our subscribers this year.

1. How Jews first migrated to Palestine, and how Israel was born 

2.The bloody history behind how Israel, and Palestine, came into existence 

3.C Raja Mohan writes: Why Modi government condemned Hamas attack – and Congress did not

4.DM who brought water to Uttar Pradesh village shunted out, put on waiting list

5. ExplainSpeaking: Why is India’s GDP facing another controversy 

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🎧 Our 3 Things podcast  is arguably India’s most popular news podcast, topping the charts across many platforms across the world. The most popular podcast episode among our listeners this year was Sandip Roy’s conversation with author Sugata Srinivasa Raju on whether the BJP needed Rahul Gandhi more than the Congress. The top 3 Things episode was the September 22 episode on ‘India stops new visa for Canadians, WHO on hypertension, and a ‘food animal’.

📹 Among our videos, it was no surprise that the Chandrayaan-3 Lander’s successful moon landing was the most viewed.

Have a wonderful new year, a new year full of great new stories.