India’s print media bucks global trend with 6% YoY growth

Platforms like TikTok and podcasts are fuelling the rise of creator-journalists, as is the rise of AI-generated content which also accelerates this trend.

Print media in India has registered a year-on-year growth of 6% in newsbrand ad spend, according to WARC’s latest Global Ad Trends report

Mumbai: “India’s news sector continues to buck the global trend, with print media maintaining a dominant position despite widespread digital disruption elsewhere. It has established itself as the largest market for print media globally – despite urban audiences increasingly shifting towards digital platforms – with year-on-year growth of 6% in newsbrand ad spend,” the report mentions.
This growth is in contrast to the worldwide trend which shows that globally, newsbrand ad spend is forecast to fall to $32.3bn this year, a 33.1% decrease from 2019, and is forecast to remain flat through 2026. For magazine brands, spend is forecast at $3.7bn in 2025, a 38.6% slump since 2019.
Alongside content and safety concerns, brands are favouring global digital platforms like Google and Meta for targeted, scalable ads. Future growth hinges on first-party data, trusted environments, and revenue diversification beyond ads – such as subscriptions and direct consumer relationships, it mentions.
WARC’s latest Global Ad Trends report examines the shift in advertising spend from professionally-produced content to user generated content (UGC) and ‘creator-journalists’ willing to operate within digital platform ecosystems. It explores how news publishers are tackling the decline in ad spend and how they plan to better demonstrate the role of professional journalism on advertising effectiveness.
Alex Brownsell, Head of Content, WARC Media, says: “Brands have become increasingly squeamish about hard news content. Keyword blocking hinders the ability of publishers to monetise newsworthy moments, while ad investment is increasingly shifting from professional journalism to ‘creator-journalists’.