Indian language news user more valuable for publishers & advertisers: Kantar-Google report

The Indian language news user is more valuable for publishers and advertisers, compared to the general internet Indian language user, finds a new Kantar-Google report.

Google News Initiative has unveiled the findings of a comprehensive research report conducted by Kantar. The report titled ‘Indian Languages - Understanding India's Digital News Consumer’, captures the distinct news content consumption preferences and behaviours of the online Indian language news consumer in India.

Kantar conducted more than 64 qualitative discussions across 16 cities, and more than 4600 in-person interviews in 43 urban cities across 14 states from November 2022 until March 2023.

Covering 8 languages viz Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu, both male and female respondents above the age of 15 from NCCS A, B, C and D/E, the report presents comprehensive insights about Indian language digital news consumers.

Shedding more light on the findings of the research, Biswapriya Bhattacharjee, Director - B2B & Technology, Kantar, said, “The Indian language news consumer has traditionally always been considered less affluent and as having less of an appetite for complex content, as compared to the English language news consumer. This study shatters that myth — the language news consumer is evolved, urban, diverse and demonstrates a willingness to pay digitally. This can unlock enormous opportunity for publishers and advertisers.”

Sanjay Gupta, Country Head and Vice President, Google India, said, “In a world where content can be translated into multiple Indian languages at scale, the opportunity with Indian language content, unconstrained by geography, is no longer regional but global. Content businesses including digital news publishers have the potential to unlock new growth avenues by better engaging with an evolved and affluent cohort of Indian language digital news consumers. As a growing digital economy, we need to come together and build new propositions and brands across mediums to engage with consumers who are seeking authentic, reliable and high-quality content. All the shifts we’ve spoken about today are pointing us towards the future of news that is still evolving and we, as Google, are here to support this transition.”

Durga Raghunath, Head of India News Partnerships, Google, said, “As the progressive shifts in the news landscape from offline to online continue, regional language content has been emerging as the overwhelming choice for consumption on the internet. At Google, we remain committed to collaborating deeply with the industry to facilitate this shift to digital through investment, skills building and insights. And, through our latest effort, partnering with Kantar we’re confident that these nuanced insights will help support the industry to shape sharper product strategies to index on relevant areas for different languages, and help newsrooms prioritize better.”