News consumption preferences and industry forerunners
India’s news industry is largely dominated by the television and print sectors, with the Hindi-speaking market accounting for much of the media consumption in the country. The news channels Aaj Tak and CNN-News18 emerged on top with the largest shares of viewership in the Hindi and English speaking markets, respectively. However, this does not mean that news in regional languages is lacking in demand; around 100 channels are devoted to regional news. Among the myriad dailies published across the country, Urdu and Telugu had the second and third greatest number of publications, while newspapers in Marathi were the most circulated after those in Hindi and English. Additionally, India’s broadcast industry has a plethora of music-based FM stations of which it is only the country’s public broadcaster, All India Radio, that is allowed to produce news.Meanwhile, the rapid penetration of smartphones and mobile internet in India have led to digital media emerging as a key player within the news industry. The younger, urban, and more educated news audiences in India frequently access news through online sources that include social media platforms. India is home to over 600 million netizens more than half of which are active social media users. A significant number of these online users access the news using their smartphones which further propelled the use of news aggregators like Google News and Daily Hunt.
Levels of trust in the media continue to increase
With the advent of the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020, news consumption in India saw an increase across most media formats, especially television. While the public sought regular updates and information regarding the development of the pandemic situation, issues like the spread of fake news as well as news media credibility became a concern. News sourced from search engines was deemed highly trustworthy by the Indian public, followed by traditional media outlets, linking back to the increased use of news aggregator apps.Among legacy media, Times of India continued to be the most trusted news brand in 2022, while India’s second most watched English news channel, Republic TV, was the least trusted. The public also took a keen interest in the financial state of news organizations and was in favor of the government financially assisting those that were struggling. Government expenditure on advertising in newspapers saw an increase, spread across over six thousand publications.
