Print News In India Continues To Thrive But Not For Long

By Author: Herman Willson
Total Articles: 97
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Despite the challenges in the west, print news in India continues to thrive for the time being, giving the industry a much needed shot in the arm. There are a number of factors why newspaper sales are growing instead of declining like most of the rest of the world as online sites offer India latest news for competitive subscription rates. But most analysts point to three glaring factors:

Regionalistic appeal

Apart from the 22 official regional languages, there are an estimated 844 dialects spoken in India. Although more than 6 in 10 people over five years old in India speak English, a by-product of its colorful past as a British colony, the rationalistic fervor has not waned. People want to read the latest news in their mother tongue. This is why newspapers and digital sites offering Hindi news live are doing very well in terms of readership and sales. For example, the paper Dainik Jagran which delivers news in the Hindi language recorded more than 16 million in average readership in 2011. The figure dwarfed Times of India, which recorded 7.4 million during the same period.

Poor Internet connection

The ...
... second factor why digital sales are still slumping behind print sales is the low Internet penetration in India, which stood at just around 12% in 2012. The number of consumers with smart phones was worse, with only around 30%. The newspaper industry is not faring as well with just 20% penetration compared to the market potential of around 75%. So even if websites publishing news in India are clearly better in terms of potential reach and immediacy, they can’t really get over the hump as long as the Internet infrastructure as well as the service of telecommunications companies improves. But the projections are positive across the board. In fact, in 2013 the Internet population in India will reach around 30 million or good for a 20% growth.

The market model

Right now, subscription is very cheap in India and the newspapers are delivered right at their doorsteps which make them very accessible. There’s also an existing distrust toward India latest news being delivered online, such as they don’t really undergo a strict filtering process just like what journalists and editors do with newspapers.

But digital news India will only grow as technology and readers’ sophistication catch up with the rest of the world. Just because the print to digital format was delayed in India doesn’t mean it will become the norm. Owners could not ignore the number of Indian immigrants abroad who want to be updated about their home country but have no access to newspapers or broadcast news.

Author’s Bio:

Author is an expert with many years of corporate experience. He has written many articles for online publication, now he is providing information on the availability of Hindi news live and India latest news online.