Print media firms are aggressively tapping into the Hindi heartland by either launching greenfield operations or acquiring strong independent brands, since the advertising revenues in these markets are growing at 13%, higher than the overall industry growth rate of 8-9% .

In the last two years, DB Corp, which publishes the country’s second largest daily Dainik Bhaskar, launched 12 new editions in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab and Chhattisgarh. Jagran Prakashan, which publishes the country’s largest selling daily Dainik Jagran, acquired Nai Dunia in April this year, to strengthen its position and take on Dainik Bhaskar and Rajasthan Patrika in MP.

Sources say that Living Media or the India Today Group, which recently sold 27.5% stake to the Aditya Birla Group, plans to start a Hindi newspaper under the Aaj Tak brand name. Living Media owns India’s second-most watched Hindi news channel Aaj Tak and plans to leverage the brand’s values in print as well. This news couldn’t be confirmed from the company as mails and messages sent to the CEO and CFO of Living Media didn’t yield any response.

Lokmat Media, which publishes Marathi daily Lokmat, said it will launch more editions of its Hindi paper Lokmat Samachar. Sources further say that HT Media, which publishes Hindi daily Hindustan, is also planning to start more editions in the core markets, while Dainik Bhaskar and Dainik Jagran look to consolidate in key cities. The Hindi belt’s other widely read dailies Amar Ujala and Prabhat Khabar, may also look to align with bigger names.

Experts indicate that in the next two years, the country will see the emergence of 2-3 very strong brands in the core markets. ?Bigger players will either acquire smaller portfolio brands or launch greenfield operations as they realise that ad growth lies in these markets as the literate population continues to increase,? says Jehil Thakkar, head ?media & entertainment ? KPMG India.

This growth is being driven by local advertisers who are thriving, while national advertisers are cutting down on ad spends, reflective of global sentiments. One of the strongest players in the Hindi belt, DB Corp, which publishes India’s second largest daily Dainik Bhaskar, gets 67% of its ad revenues from local advertisers.

?In 2011, the core markets have remained largely unaffected by advertising slowdown and saw a growth of 17-18% across states, while the overall market managed to grow in single digits,? says a senior executive of DB Corp. ?Certain markets like Rajasthan are growing at 18-20%, while MP is the strongest at 20-22%.? He can’t be named as he’s not authorised to speak to the media. Hindi markets have turned out to be an essential cog in the wheel for print media firms with the ad pie estimated to grow to R7,400 crore by 2016 from R4,500 crore now, according to a KPMG report released in March. Media buyers say Rajasthan, MP, UP and Punjab are key markets and newspapers are following advertisers into these locations.

?The skew of advertising is towards traditional Hindi markets and it turns out to be more effective for companies as the reach is vast,? says Anil Sathiraju, media buyer at Mudra Max, which just completed a spot buying activity in UP for a four-wheeler company.

As advertisers are going to the Hindi heartland, media companies are following suit.”No advertiser or publisher can afford to ignore the core markets. Ad volumes are increasing and about 65% go to them,? says Mudra Max’s Sathiraju.

On the contrary, the English print ad market has slowed down and is growing at about 8%. It is estimated to touch R8,400 crore by 2016 from R6,100 crore now, according to KPMG estimates. However, English still occupies the highest share (40%) in the ad revenue pie, while Hindi gets 30%. ?While volumes go to Hindi markets, value comes to English as they command premium ad rates,? says Sathiraju.

But, this is changing as well. According to media buyers’ estimates, during 2007-09, the ad rate commanded by English newspapers was roughly 10x that of non-English dailies. This rate has contracted to about 8x and is further expected to come down to 5x or 4x in the next three years.

According to the Pitch Madison Ad Outlook 2012, advertising volumes in print have increased 13% between 2007-2011 and number of advertisers have gone up by 22%, as TV ad rates continue to be prohibitive. ?The growth of English news is muted, both in print and TV, because rates are unaffordable for most advertisers,? says an independent media buyer.