Print ad space sees modest 2% decline in Jan-Jul: TAM AdEx

India’s print advertising market remained largely resilient in the first seven months of 2026, with advertising space declining by only 2% compared with the corresponding period last year, according to the latest TAM AdEx data.

The relatively modest decline in print ad space between January and July 2026 suggests that despite the continued expansion of digital advertising, print continues to retain relevance for sectors that depend on high-intent audiences, regional reach, promotional advertising and credibility-led communication.

The TAM AdEx analysis, based on column-centimetres of advertising space and excluding house advertisements, shows that the print market continues to be led by a relatively concentrated set of sectors and categories. Education emerged as the largest sector, while automobiles remained the biggest individual advertising category.

Education remains print's biggest advertising engine

Education accounted for 20% of total print advertising space during January-July 2026, making it the largest contributing sector. Services followed with a 15% share, while auto accounted for 14%.

Banking, finance and investment contributed another 11%, followed by personal accessories and retail at 7% each. Food and beverages accounted for 5%, personal healthcare for 4%, durables for 3% and corporate/brand image advertising for 2%.

The concentration is significant: the top five sectors together accounted for more than 66% of print advertising space during the period.

The education sector's dominance is also reflected at the category level. Three of the top ten advertising categories belonged to education, underlining the sector's continued dependence on print for reaching prospective students and parents.

Among the top ten sectors, the first four positions—Education, Services, Auto and Banking/Finance/Investment—remained unchanged from January-July 2025. Personal Accessories climbed to fifth place from seventh, while Retail slipped from fifth to sixth.

Corporate/Brand Image was the only new entrant into the top ten sector ranking.

Cars continue to lead individual categories

At the category level, Cars remained the largest contributor to print advertising, accounting for 9% of print ad space during January-July 2026.

Multiple Courses followed closely with an 8% share, while Properties/Real Estates contributed 6%. Retail Outlets-Jewellers accounted for 5%.

Coaching/Competitive Exam Centres, Hospitals/Clinics and Two Wheelers each contributed 4%, while Schools and Retail Outlets-Electronics/Durables accounted for 3% each. Retail Outlets-Clothing/Textiles/Fashion contributed 2%.

Taken together, the top ten categories represented 48% of total print ad space, leaving 52% distributed across the remaining categories.

The ranking also points to an interesting mix of traditional print-heavy sectors and consumer categories. Automotive, education, real estate, jewellery, healthcare and retail all feature prominently, indicating that print continues to serve both high-value purchases and consideration-led categories.

Cars retained the No. 1 position from January-July 2025. Four of the top ten categories improved their rankings during the latest period, while Retail Outlets-Clothing/Textiles/Fashion entered the top ten.

Three categories in the top ten were from education and two belonged to the auto sector.

Jewellery, insurance and healthcare see sharper growth

While the overall print advertising market contracted marginally, several categories registered strong growth in advertising space.

Multiple Courses recorded the highest absolute increase in print ad space during January-July 2026 compared with January-July 2025.

Retail Outlets-Jewellers followed, while Ecom-Other Services was the third-largest category in terms of absolute increase.

The growth data also highlights some striking percentage increases. Retail Outlets-Jewellers grew 16%, while Multiple Courses increased 9% and Cars rose 6%.

Life Insurance and Mutual Funds each recorded 30% growth, while Branded Jewellery grew 24%.

Corporate-Pharma/Healthcare was among the fastest-growing categories, registering 71% growth. Herbal Juices recorded a 21-times increase, while Ecom-Other Services grew seven times.

Ice Cream/Frozen Desserts registered 11% growth.

More than 290 categories recorded positive growth in print advertising space during the period, suggesting that the marginal overall decline masks considerable movement beneath the headline number.

For media planners and publishers, this could be an important signal. The print market is not necessarily shrinking uniformly across categories. Instead, advertising demand appears to be shifting between sectors, with education, financial services, jewellery, healthcare and certain consumer categories showing greater momentum.

Maruti Suzuki retains top advertiser position

At the advertiser level, Maruti Suzuki India remained the largest print advertiser in both January-July 2025 and January-July 2026.

Hero MotoCorp was ranked second, followed by LIC of India. SBS Biotech occupied the fourth position, while GCMMF ranked fifth.

Bajaj Auto, TVS Motor Company, Reliance Retail, Allen Career Institute and Renault India completed the top ten.

The latest ranking also indicates considerable continuity among major print advertisers. Seven of the top ten advertisers from January-July 2025 remained in the top ten in January-July 2026, suggesting that large advertisers continue to maintain a relatively stable commitment to the medium.

At the same time, three new advertisers entered the top ten: SBS Biotech, GCMMF and Renault India.

The top ten advertisers together accounted for 13% of print advertising space during the period.

Renault India's movement is particularly notable, moving from 24th position in January-July 2025 to the tenth spot in the latest period. SBS Biotech moved from 14th to fourth, while GCMMF climbed from 11th to fifth.

Reliance Retail, meanwhile, moved down from third to eighth.

Allen Career Institute emerges as top brand

At the individual brand level, Allen Career Institute topped the rankings during January-July 2026, followed by LIC.

Three of the top ten brands belonged to the auto sector—Maruti Suzuki E Vitara, Maruti Car Range and Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara—reflecting the strong presence of automotive advertising within print.

Kisna Diamond & Gold Jewellery, Aakash Medical/IIT-JEE/Foundation, Galgotias University-MI, Veena World Travels and Smart Bazaar also featured among the ten largest brands.

The top ten brands together accounted for 5% of print advertising space.

TAM AdEx also recorded more than 108,000 brands advertising in print during January-July 2026, pointing to a considerably broader advertiser base beyond the largest players.

Hindi and English continue to dominate

The language mix remains relatively stable.

Hindi publications accounted for 37% of print advertising volume, while English publications contributed 29%. Marathi followed at 8%, with Kannada and Telugu at 5% each.

Together, Hindi and English publications accounted for more than 60% of print advertising volume in both January-July 2025 and January-July 2026.

The stability of the top three publication languages suggests that advertisers continue to rely heavily on the two largest language markets while also maintaining meaningful investments in regional-language publications.

Promotions remain central to print advertising

One of the clearest characteristics of print advertising during the period was the importance of promotional communication.

Sales promotions accounted for 28% of print advertising space in January-July 2026, compared with 69% for brand advertising and 4% for other forms of advertising.

Within sales promotions, Multiple Promotion was the largest format, accounting for 45% of promotional advertising space. Discount Promotion followed closely at 40%.

Together, these two formats accounted for 85% of all sales-promotion advertising space.

Exchange Promotion contributed 5%, while Add On Promotion and Volume Promotion accounted for 3% each.

The prominence of promotional advertising is significant because print continues to offer advertisers a format suited to communicating multiple offers, product ranges, discounts and detailed purchase information.

A market of stability rather than sharp contraction

The latest TAM AdEx numbers paint a picture of a print advertising market that is under pressure, but far from disappearing.

A 2% decline in advertising space is relatively modest against the structural changes taking place in the broader advertising ecosystem. More importantly, the headline decline conceals strong category-level growth, with more than 290 categories registering an increase.

Education remains the largest sector, automotive continues to command substantial advertising space, and financial services, jewellery, healthcare and e-commerce-related categories are expanding their presence.

The stability of the leading advertisers and the continued dominance of Hindi and English publications further point to an established ecosystem rather than one undergoing a wholesale retreat.

For publishers, the challenge will therefore be less about defending print against a uniform decline and more about identifying the categories and advertising formats that continue to see demand.

The TAM AdEx data indicates that print in 2026 is increasingly a story of selective resilience—with the overall market broadly stable, but individual sectors, categories and advertisers moving at sharply different speeds.