Print media advertising (adex) in India recorded modest growth in 2025, reaching Rs 20,866 crore, a 3% increase year-on-year from Rs 20,272 in 2024, states the Pitch Madison Advertising Report for 2026 released recently.
Contrary to the promising results of a few top legacy newspaper houses, print’s share declined to 18% from 19% in the overall adex pie, highlighting the medium’s gradual loss of market weight in a digital-first ecosystem. Last February, the same report had projected a 7% growth for print adex in 2025, and expected to reach almost Rs 22,000 crore.
Print’s adex share was 30% in 2019, the year before Covid wreaked havoc, fell to 22% in 2020 and 2021, 21% in 2022 and 2023 and 19% in 2024. Print was slowing down even before the pandemic. However, the steep decline began in 2020, when the circulation of newspapers and magazines reached near zero across India, barring Kerala, as we wrote in a previous article. Print in 2014 was at Rs 15,274 crore (41% share of total adex).
“The medium is consolidating into a smaller, more premium role in the mix—less about mass coverage, more about credibility, detail, and targeted impact in specific markets,” the report states.
Growth was driven primarily by pricing rather than scale. Ad volumes remained nearly flat, rising just ~1% from 333 million to 336 million column centimeters (M CC), while revenues improved as advertisers shifted to premium placements such as front pages and jackets.
According to the report, Q4 (October to December) was the primary growth driver, with festive and event-led advertising lifting yields even as base demand remained cautious in earlier quarters. “Publishers used pricing, position and packaged solutions to protect revenue in a slow market, especially in metros and key state capitals,” the report stated.
Print ad spends in the first quarter (Q1) of the calendar year 2025 were recorded at Rs 4,965 crore, indicating a slow start. Q2 had Rs 4,258 crore, which jumped to Rs 5,120 crore due to a festive build-up, ending with Rs 6,524 crore in Q4 of 2025.
“Advertisers bought fewer but more valuable insertions—front pages, jackets, high-impact units and curated packages—rather than chasing sheer column centimeters. This pattern is consistent with print’s shift from a frequency medium to a high-attention, high-trust environment used for launches, detailed communication and policy or tariff messaging,” the report said.
Language trends show consolidation. English volumes grew 6% (94M to 100M CC), while Hindi held steady at 121M CC, a 0% growth over 2024. Regional languages such as Marathi and Telugu declined by around 6%, indicating more selective media allocation.
Print’s trust factor
Category-wise, print growth was led by sectors that rely on trust and detailed communication, led by auto, which added over ₹200 crore to print spends from Rs 2,803 crore in 2024 to 3,036 crore in 2025. BFSI grew by ₹92 crore, while retail and fashion also saw gains. FMCG, however, declined by about 3%, acting as the biggest drag on the medium. eCommerce grew 9% as digital brands embrace print.
Overall, print is evolving into a high-impact, credibility-led medium, increasingly used selectively for trust-driven and information-heavy communication rather than mass reach.
Looking ahead to 2026-27, the report says print’s role is clear as a stable but selective, yield-driven medium. “It will work hardest for auto, BFSI, real estate & home improvement, and premium education— categories that need depth, trust and regional nuance—especially in Hindi and English markets, and when tightly orchestrated with digital and large screen rather than treated as a standalone mass-reach tool.”
Digital rules in overall adex pie
Overall, in 2025, Indian advertising changed gears. On the surface, adex grew 7% on the old legacy definition to Rs 1,15,291 crore and 12% on the new expanded definition (which includes quick commerce advertising and MSME digital spends) to Rs 1,55,105 crore.
Traditional media, which includes TV, print, radio, cinema, OOH, together, shrank by Rs 739 crore from Rs 62,688 crore in 2024 to Rs 61,949 crore in 2025.
Digital, on the other hand, added Rs 8,050 crore on the legacy lens and Rs 16,895 crore on the expanded lens. The total digital adex stood at Rs 93,156 crore with a 60% share, up from Rs 76,261 crore in 2024 in the new definition.
Dentsu report
Another adex report by Dentsu says the Indian advertising industry grew by 8.3% in 2025, reaching ₹1,21,339 crore. Digital media contributed ₹71,621 crore, a dominant 59% share, while television remained the largest traditional medium with a 21% share (₹25,964 crore).
The Dentsu report put print slightly lower than Pitch-Madison, with a 14% share (₹16,594 crore). Print, it said, continued to deliver trust-led visibility in key markets and categories. Print’s share is projected to drop from 14% to 10% by 2027, according to the Dentsu report.
