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MUMBAI:
English-language media, which accounts for only 15 per cent
of the total Indian newspaper market with at least seven times
less readership than Hindi-language media, claims the biggest
share of total print ad space.
According
to a study conducted by brokerage firm Motilal Oswal quoted
by the World Association of Newspapers, this can be attributed
to much higher ad rates in the English media, which usually
came from the perception that the purchasing power of the
niche readership of English newspapers is much higher than
that of Hindi readers.
However,
the ad rates in vernacular and Hindi newspapers is expected
to grow faster, due to the rising advertiser focus toward
rural areas and small towns for incremental demand growth.
Print
media is highly fragmented in India, with over 62,483 registered
newspapers throughout the country. Among them, Hindi newspapers
comprise 40 per cent, while English papers make up only 15
per cent of the market. Vernacular papers fill up the remaining
35 per cent, according to the study.
For
each copy of a Hindi newspaper bought, around seven to nine
people read it, while the corresponding figure for English
dailies is merely two to four. Hindi and vernacular newspapers
boast a much higher readership, as 17 per cent of the literate
population end up reading Hindi dailies, versus only 2.7 per
cent reading English dailies.
However,
in spite of the higher readership of vernacular and Hindi
dailies, English papers account for more than 53 per cent
of the total newspaper advertising pie. The advertising rates
of English newspapers, in addition, are nine times higher
than those of Hindi and nearly 13 times higher than those
of vernacular newspapers.
According
to Smita Jha of PricewaterhouseCoopers, the huge difference
in the shares results from the fact that most of the business
papers (in which the ad rates are even higher than general
English newspapers) are in English.
“Most
of the marketers target the niche readers. Most of the high-priced
lifestyle products get advertised in the English newspapers,”
said Siddharth Mukherjee from Adex.
Mukherjee
pointed out that the total ad market was around Rs 63 billion
in 2006 for all media. However, around 90 to 95 per cent of
advertiser’s money penetrated to only half of the population.
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