Indian Express Advertising

Who reads The Indian Express?

The Indian Express has a reputation for investigative reporting and clear explainers. Its online readers include politically engaged adults, professionals, academics and a large number of students. Civil services aspirants are a well-known part of the audience, because the paper's explainers and editorials are popular study material.

Press Gazette, using Similarweb data, reported about 88.9 million visits to indianexpress.com in May 2026. That was lower than a year earlier, in line with search traffic falls at many large news sites. Visits are not the same as unique readers, and the group's language sites add further reach on top.

Which Indian Express sites can you advertise on?

Indian Express advertising is not only English. The group runs news sites in several languages, which lets one publisher cover more than one market.

The regional ie sites were launched in 2017 and 2018, according to MediaNama. The same group also publishes Financial Express for business readers. Deal availability differs by site, so we confirm which ones are open for your dates.

On formats, most campaigns use display banners, rich media and native units on article and section pages. Video is available through in-stream pre-roll in the publisher's players and out-stream units within articles. Homepage takeovers, section sponsorships and newsletter placements are sold directly by the group.

For a Marathi campaign, for example, a consumer brand might run rich media on Loksatta and display on the English site's Mumbai and Pune pages, with one frequency cap across both.

Think of the English site as the national layer and the language sites as local layers. A brand can start with English only, read the first two weeks of data, then add Bangla or Tamil once it knows which cities respond. This staged approach keeps the minimum spend manageable and avoids spreading a small budget across six sites at once.

Who should advertise on Indian Express?

Edtech and test-prep brands are a natural fit, given the student audience. Publishers, banks, insurers and government-adjacent communication also work well with a serious news reader. Regional brands use the language sites. A Kerala jewellery chain, a Bengal paint brand or a Maharashtra cooperative bank can reach readers in their own language without buying several separate publishers.

National brands use Indian Express as a quality layer next to a mass reach title. It is especially useful when you want to be seen next to credible journalism.

When should you advertise on Indian Express?

Exam calendars matter for this audience. UPSC preliminary and main exam periods, board results and college admission months see students reading heavily. Elections and Budget day bring wider spikes.

Regional festivals are the other big moments. Onam in Kerala, Durga Puja in Bengal, Pongal in Tamil Nadu and Ganeshotsav in Maharashtra are good times to run language site deals. Book these weeks early, since local advertisers compete for the same pages.

How do you measure Indian Express campaigns?

Report each site separately. Language sites often show different viewability and engagement from the English site, and a combined number hides that. We report impressions, unique reach, frequency and viewability, plus video completion for video lines.

For edtech and lead-generation goals, add conversion tags and compare cost per lead by site. Brand lift is available where the budget qualifies.

How does it compare with other English news brands?

The Times of India and Hindustan Times offer larger mass reach. Indian Express offers a more engaged, opinion-forming reader and more language options within one group. Many plans combine one mass title with Indian Express. See the full list of titles we buy on our publisher advertising page.

Tips for better results

Write separate creative for each language. Translation alone is rarely enough, so adapt the line and the offer. For students, keep messages practical, such as a free mock test or a course start date. Check that landing pages work in the same language as the ad. And review results by site after the first week, then move budget to the strongest ones.