According to the Indian census 2011, Hindi spoken/understood by 57.09% of Indian residents – ahead of English (10.67%), Bengali (8.85%) and others in descending order. Therefore, in order to reach this target audience, the best move is to place an Advertisement in Hindi Newspaper. For this purpose, the Indian press offers a wide choice of Hindi newspapers – all part of the over 1,000-member Indian Newspaper Society (INS) which acts as the central organization of the Press of India, an independent body authenticating circulation figures of newspapers and periodicals in India. It is an organization which plays a major role in protecting and promoting the freedom of press in India.

Main reasons for booking Hindi ads:

• Reach: No other advertising vehicle can match the reach of Hindi Newspapers.
• Targeted: From targeting ad placement by section readership to post-it notes, to a few residential blocks, newspapers fine tune the message like no other.
• Credibility/trust: Consumers believe in newspaper advertising more than any other medium. Thirty-six per cent of adults surveyed find newspapers to be trustworthy or believable, a large gap when compared to television (8 per cent), or the internet (15 per cent).
• Quality: Your very best prospects are Hindi newspapers readers who are typically labelled upscale – meaning upper income bracket, higher education, professional/managerial occupations – all counted among newspaper readers.
• Immediate: Newspaper advertising is among the fastest forms of advertising as they have extremely short deadlines allowing ads to be created and run in a matter of days.
• Flexibility: Unlike most other media Hindi newspapers allow the advertiser to build an ad in any size.
• Reliability: To readers, newspaper advertising is a valuable commodity. A recent research study surveyed shoppers’ attitudes about which type of media they preferred for retail advertising. In terms of media used to check out ads, the most valuable media in planning shopping – used for comparing prices, most convenient, most-up-to date, most trustworthy, believable and preferred – newspapers outdistance all other forms combined.
• Selective vs. intrusive: These days, shoppers are less willing to accept advertising that is spooned out to them. They prefer advertising on their own. Thus, newspapers are the medium shoppers most used for shopping in an average week.
• Environment: Typically adding credibility and legitimacy to the brand being advertised is the newspaper editorial environment. To readers, the advertising in a newspaper is considered every bit as important as the news.
• Results: Newspaper advertising works! While this point should go without saying, the fact remains that newspapers are frequently thought of as a results medium.

Newspaper ads create traffic, move merchandise and yes, establish brands. We cannot lose track of the notion that, in a world of thousands of messages a day, advertising in newspapers are one sure thing when it comes to producing results.

Six of the major Hindi newspapers are:

1. Dainik Jagran is a broadsheet Hindi daily newspaper. As of 2017 it was the largest newspaper in India by circulation. 3,410,026 daily (as of July-December 2018) according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation. As of 2010 it was the 17th most read in the world. It has 37 editions in states such as Delhi, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, J and K, Bihar, Jharkhand, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and many more.

2. Dainik Bhaskar is a broadsheet Hindi daily newspaper that is the largest circulated daily newspaper of India. It is present in 14 states with 63 editions in Hindi, English, Marathi and Gujarati with a circulation of 4,320,781 daily (as of July-December 2018) according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation.

3. Amar Ujala is a Hindi daily newspaper published in India. It has 20 editions in seven states and one union territory covering 180 districts. It has a circulation of of 2,067,253 daily (as of July-December 2018) according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation.

4. Hindustan Dainik or ”Hindustan” is a broadsheet Hindi daily newspaper and the fourth-largest circulated newspaper in India. It has 21 editions across the Hindi belt. They are spread across Delhi, Haryana (Faridabad), Bihar (Patna, Muzaffarpur, Gaya, Bhagalpur and Purnea), Jharkhand (Ranchi, Jamshedpur and Dhanbad), Uttar Pradesh (Lucknow, Varanasi, Meerut, Agra, Allahabad, Gorakhpur, Bareilly, Moradabad, Aligarh, and Kanpur) and Uttarakhand (Dehradun, Haridwar, Haldwani) and also key towns like Mathura, Saharanpur, Faizabad. It has a circulation of 1,989,117 daily (as of July–December 2018) according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation.

5. Rajasthan Patrika is a broadsheet Hindi daily newspaper published as Rajasthan Patrika in Delhi and Rajasthan, and as Patrika in 9 other states. It has a circulation of 3,513,756 daily (as of 07 July 2017) according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation.

6. Nava Bharat is a Hindi broadsheet daily newspaper published from Nagpur, Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Raipur, Bilaspur, Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, Gwalior, Satna, Chhindwara, Chandrapur and Amravati. Nava Bharat has the sixth highest readership according to Indian Readership Survey ’09 R1 in India amongst Hindi newspapers.