The split between language media and English media remains one of advertising’s longest-running arguments, and the numbers underneath it still don’t quite add up.
As a publisher of a language daily, two questions keep resurfacing: why do advertisers continue favouring English newspapers, and why are they willing to pay so much more for that space, even as the industry repeatedly insists that India’s real growth lies in Tier-2 and Tier-3 markets?
The contradiction sharpens on closer inspection. English newspaper circulation in smaller cities is comparatively thin, while language dailies hold deeper penetration and stronger local engagement in exactly the markets brands claim to be chasing. The “national reach” argument for English media also weakens under scrutiny, since only a handful of English dailies genuinely operate across multiple states, whereas language newspapers collectively cover far more regional ground.
Transparency adds another layer. Several major English dailies have opted out of ABC circulation audits in recent years, Tamil Nadu’s English press currently has no ABC-certified daily, raising real questions about how reach is being measured versus how it’s being perceived.
Yet brands like Amul, Tanishq, L&T, Meta, Vivo and several others continue directing the bulk of their print spend toward English newspapers, even as local advertisers, who arguably understand these markets best, lean heavily on language media instead.
If growth is genuinely shifting beyond the metros, advertising investment needs to follow the audience that’s actually there, not the perception of where they are.
