The big read: What comes after print in India? Print plus programmatic, perhaps
India’s news business is alive and kicking — with a twist. In a mobile-first nation, print still arrives by hand.
Even as publications around the world have gone digital and seen plunging readerships and ad revenues, India’s print news industry is holding its ground — powered by advertisers and cultural habit.
A report by WARC published earlier this year titled “Advertising’s breaking news problem” painted a global conundrum: News as a medium is still widely consumed, but it is underfunded and undervalued by advertisers. India, it seems, didn’t get the memo.
The question of what comes after print isn’t yet being seriously considered in India. Supported by economic advantages and steeped in cultural norms, much of the country seems to be instead asking why it should move on from print at all.
But for publishers and brands hoping to reach India’s younger, digital-first generations who are quickly maturing into India’s main consumer cohorts, that question is becoming harder to ignore.
India’s path won’t necessarily, or likely, follow the same trajectory as Western markets. Answering “what’s next” requires some nonlinear thinking. Because framing India’s media evolution in a linear model — the steps from print to TV to desktop to smartphone to whatever Sam Altman and former Apple Design Chief Jony Ive envision for our future — is a nonstarter in a mobile-first, increasingly digitizing country with a deep love for and connection to print.
The past and present: India’s attachment to print
The ritual of the early morning paper delivery is still playing out across thousands of villages, hundreds of rapidly growing towns and cities and dozens of states in one of the largest economies in the world.
For Lloyd Mathias, a former marketing head and now board member at several media companies in India, the reasons are both economic and cultural. “Print in India is priced absurdly low. You can get a month’s subscription to some leading publications for ₹150–₹200. That’s practically at the cost of pulp, and it’s because the print industry here is largely supported by advertising, not subscriptions.”
Unlike more digitally mature markets like the U.S., where publications such as The New York Times get much of their revenue from subscriptions, Indian newspapers typically earn 80% to 85% of their income through advertising, according to Mathias.
According to a recent report, print advertising has been recovering post-2023, especially from advertisers in real estate, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and regional retail. Publications in tier 2 and 3 cities are seeing stable, and sometimes even increasing, ad volumes.
In fact, print advertising in India recorded a remarkable 26% growth in ad spend during the first half of 2025 compared to the same period last year, according to reporting by TAM AdEx, RCS India and Excellent Publicity, demonstrating renewed advertiser confidence and a strong rebound even as global markets continue to shrink.
This is happening even as digital ad spend in India trumped linear TV for the first time last year and accounted for 55% of total advertising revenue in 2024.
Part of print’s growth alongside digital could be explained by WARC data, which shows 72% of Indian consumers say they frequently feel overwhelmed by the volume of digital advertising. More than 60% say they trust print and TV more than digital news platforms. And while mobile attention spans continue to shrink, print lingers.
Mathias also notes, outside of big cities, subscribing to a newspaper often carries a social value that goes beyond information. “For many in Bharat — India’s heartland — having a newspaper is a marker of respectability,” he says.
While English-language dailies are leveling off in cities, regional papers are finding new readers in towns where literacy is rising and digital penetration is still catching up.
“For a first-generation literate, it’s a way to demonstrate literacy and pride. And because the pricing is so minuscule, even low-income households can afford it.”
The future: How younger Indians see news
Still, print media’s long-term future will depend on how well it adapts to the next generation of consumers, Prasun Kumar, CMO of Magicbricks, said, pointing to the growing influence of Gen Z and younger audiences. “Print still resonates, but that’s going to change.”
Indeed, new research into Gen Z’s media consumption habits reinforces this shift. Not only are they the most digitally engaged generation in India, but they’re also especially active on the open internet. Ninety percent use it to explore their interests like streaming, music and gaming — and they’re 1.7 times more likely than their predecessors to spend three to six hours a day on these activities.
“In 10 to 15 years, when Gen Z becomes one of the primary consumer cohorts, print will need to reinvent itself,” he said. “Millennials, who will be the largest cohort then, may still value it out of nostalgia, but the succeeding generations are tech-native with screens from birth.”
Looking ahead: Tech innovations come for print
Gopa Menon, COO and co-founder of theblurr, believes that for brands, this upcoming shift means opportunity. Print often builds credibility with more traditional audiences, while digital drives interaction and conversion.
The challenge isn’t choosing one over the other but rather integrating both effectively. Menon sees changing the print-digital equation not by replacing print, but by making hybrid strategies more effective. “The danger isn’t maintaining print presence. It’s maintaining legacy mindsets about channel integration.”
Moreover, data from digital can inform smarter print targeting, while print engagement can feed into more personalized digital experiences.
QR codes, for example, have been a quietly important development in UPI- [a digital payments system] and scan-savvy India. They allow brands to combine the status and physicality of a print ad with the trackability and interactivity of digital. While their adoption remains uneven, for some consumers, they offer a path to digital that doesn’t tether advertisers to the black boxes of walled gardens.
This raises questions about the role of the open internet in India, where news publishers with digital arms operate.
Publishers and independent ad tech platforms in the country, and indeed elsewhere around the world, are beginning to push back against Big Tech, particularly through localized content and ad tech capabilities, platform partnerships and first-party data ecosystems.
In this context, the potential for programmatic to replumb the pipes of news advertising in India becomes clearer: The next evolution in India’s digital ecosystem may not be about disruption at all — but about building alternatives that can tap into the country’s enduring relationship with print media to earn both reach and trust.
“The Indian market’s complexity demands this nuance,” Menon said. “Brands mastering this integration aren’t behind the curve. They’re setting the templates for marketing in diverse, multilayered economies.”