Analyzing Patterns and Influence of Advertising in Print Newspapers

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Vardhan, N Harsha, Kumaraguru, Ponnurangam, Garimella, Kiran
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Vardhan, N Harsha
Kumaraguru, Ponnurangam
Garimella, Kiran
author_facet Vardhan, N Harsha
Kumaraguru, Ponnurangam
Garimella, Kiran
contents This paper investigates advertising practices in print newspapers across India using a novel data-driven approach. We develop a pipeline employing image processing and OCR techniques to extract articles and advertisements from digital versions of print newspapers with high accuracy. Applying this methodology to five popular newspapers that span multiple regions and three languages, English, Hindi, and Telugu, we assembled a dataset of more than 12,000 editions containing several hundred thousand advertisements. Collectively, these newspapers reach a readership of over 100 million people. Using this extensive dataset, we conduct a comprehensive analysis to answer key questions about print advertising: who advertises, what they advertise, when they advertise, where they place their ads, and how they advertise. Our findings reveal significant patterns, including the consistent level of print advertising over the past six years despite declining print circulation, the overrepresentation of company ads on prominent pages, and the disproportionate revenue contributed by government ads. Furthermore, we examine whether advertising in a newspaper influences the coverage an advertiser receives. Through regression analyses on coverage volume and sentiment, we find strong evidence supporting this hypothesis for corporate advertisers. The results indicate a clear trend where increased advertising correlates with more favorable and extensive media coverage, a relationship that remains robust over time and across different levels of advertiser popularity.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_10791
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Analyzing Patterns and Influence of Advertising in Print Newspapers
Vardhan, N Harsha
Kumaraguru, Ponnurangam
Garimella, Kiran
Computers and Society
Artificial Intelligence
Social and Information Networks
This paper investigates advertising practices in print newspapers across India using a novel data-driven approach. We develop a pipeline employing image processing and OCR techniques to extract articles and advertisements from digital versions of print newspapers with high accuracy. Applying this methodology to five popular newspapers that span multiple regions and three languages, English, Hindi, and Telugu, we assembled a dataset of more than 12,000 editions containing several hundred thousand advertisements. Collectively, these newspapers reach a readership of over 100 million people. Using this extensive dataset, we conduct a comprehensive analysis to answer key questions about print advertising: who advertises, what they advertise, when they advertise, where they place their ads, and how they advertise. Our findings reveal significant patterns, including the consistent level of print advertising over the past six years despite declining print circulation, the overrepresentation of company ads on prominent pages, and the disproportionate revenue contributed by government ads. Furthermore, we examine whether advertising in a newspaper influences the coverage an advertiser receives. Through regression analyses on coverage volume and sentiment, we find strong evidence supporting this hypothesis for corporate advertisers. The results indicate a clear trend where increased advertising correlates with more favorable and extensive media coverage, a relationship that remains robust over time and across different levels of advertiser popularity.
title Analyzing Patterns and Influence of Advertising in Print Newspapers
topic Computers and Society
Artificial Intelligence
Social and Information Networks
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.10791