Revenue from non-print businesses, including digital platforms, out-of-home advertising and event management, is estimated to grow by up to 12 per cent between FY25-FY27 for major newspapers versus an expansion of up to 3 per cent in core print revenues amid declining readership, a report said on Wednesday..India's largest newspaper groups are no longer relying on print alone to preserve relevance or protect credit quality, the report by Crisil Ratings, formulated after analysing the performance of five of the most widely circulated dailies in the country, said.There is an "urgency" in the transition, given the fact that circulation of large newspapers has declined to 1 crore in 2025 from 1.5 crore in 2019, the report said, adding that the same is expected to decline further as young readers shift to digital platforms.Print-related revenue, including print advertising, is estimated to have declined at a 1-2 per cent compound annual growth rate over the past seven years as a result of this decline in readership, it added."Revenue from non-print businesses is expected to increase 10-12 per cent annually between fiscals 2025 and 2027, significantly outpacing the 2-3 per cent expected growth in the traditional print business over the same period," the agency's senior director and deputy chief rating officer Manish Gupta said.Stating that diversification is no longer optional for large newspapers, he explained that factors leading to faster growth in the non-print revenues include strong brand equity, deep regional reach and the ability to bundle print, digital, radio, events and outdoor media into integrated solutions for advertisers.There is a "structural pressure" in the legacy print business, he added.The agency estimated that the contribution of the non-print revenues has increased to up to a fourth of the revenue base in 2025 from just 13 per cent in 2019.The non-print businesses are structurally less profitable, but factors like scale benefits in digital and adjacent businesses are expected to help preserve the margins at 12-13 per cent, it said.Explaining the profitability aspect, the agency said out-of-home advertising and event management businesses deliver lower profits due to high costs and intense competition, but digital operations are steadily reducing pre-tax losses as they move beyond incubation and gain operating scale.The large publishers are expected to sustain their credit profiles despite the changing revenue mix as they are entering this transition with conservative capital structures, net cash positions and sizeable liquid investment portfolios, giving them the financial flexibility to invest through the cycle while absorbing softer accruals from the print franchise, the agency said."Credit resilience will be anchored less in the trajectory of print business and more in the strength of balance sheets," its director Ankit Hakhu said.A sharper-than-expected decline in circulation, slower monetisation of digital platforms or delayed scale-up of non-print businesses will bear watching, the rating agency said.Published on August 20, 2026