The Next Audience Is Closer Than Brands Think
For years, English and Hindi dominated many national advertising campaigns. But India’s digital audience is too diverse to be understood through two languages alone. As consumers watch videos, search for products and shop online, regional languages are becoming an important part of how brands earn attention and build familiarity.
The opportunity is not simply to translate an existing advertisement. It is to communicate in a way that feels natural to the audience, reflects local culture and addresses real consumer needs.
For marketers, this creates a shift in strategy: language is no longer just a creative choice. It can influence discovery, comprehension and purchase decisions.
The Data Behind the Language Shift
The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), in collaboration with Kantar, reported in its Internet in India 2023 study that 57% of urban Indian internet users preferred accessing internet content in Indic languages, compared with 43% who preferred English.
The report also found that video consumption was a major activity among users accessing the internet in Indic languages. Online shopping and search were among the other activities recorded.
These findings highlight why regional-language content matters to digital businesses. They do not mean every consumer prefers regional languages in every situation, but they demonstrate that English-only communication can overlook a substantial audience.
Official report: IAMAI — Internet in India 2023 (PDF).
Translation Is Not the Same as Localisation
A direct translation may preserve the words of an advertisement while losing its meaning, humour or emotional appeal.
Consider a campaign promoting a new food product. A literal translation might communicate the product’s features, but a locally developed concept could connect those features with regional eating habits, family occasions or familiar expressions.
The same principle applies to financial services, education, healthcare and consumer technology. Language must make complex information easier to understand, not simply make the advertisement look local.
Brands should therefore work with native-language writers, regional researchers and local reviewers. They should also test whether the message is clear, appropriate and persuasive in the intended market.
Video and Voice Are Expanding the Opportunity
Regional advertising is not limited to newspaper advertisements or translated social posts. Video platforms, audio content, voice interfaces and conversational services create more ways to reach audiences in their preferred languages.
A consumer brand can produce short regional-language videos for social media. A retailer can explain a product through a local-language demonstration, while a service provider can create audio messages that simplify the customer journey.
India’s BHASHINI initiative is also working to make digital services more accessible across Indian languages through language technology.
Official resource: BHASHINI.
Language technology may help organisations scale translation, speech recognition and content adaptation. However, automated translation still requires human review when accuracy, cultural nuance or consumer safety matters.
Regional Advertising Needs Regional Strategy
Successful localisation begins with understanding the market. Brands should examine local demand, customer preferences, media consumption and product availability before choosing languages and creative formats.
A campaign aimed at consumers in Tamil Nadu may require a different approach from one targeting audiences in Maharashtra or West Bengal. Even within a single state, language preferences and cultural references can vary by city, community and customer segment.
Businesses should also distinguish between using a regional language for creative impact and using it to make information genuinely accessible. A translated advertisement is less useful if its pricing conditions, product limitations or important disclaimers remain difficult to understand.
How Brands Can Measure Results
Regional campaigns should be evaluated using the same commercial discipline as any other advertising investment.
Marketers can compare video completion rates, engagement, qualified enquiries, conversion rates and sales across language versions. They should also consider whether the audience mix differs between markets before comparing results.
Controlled tests can help determine whether a local-language advertisement improves performance relative to an otherwise comparable campaign. Researchers should account for differences in media costs, audience size, distribution and creative execution.
Brands must also ensure that regional-language claims remain truthful and compliant with applicable advertising rules. India’s Department of Consumer Affairs publishes guidance on preventing misleading advertisements and endorsements.
Official reference: Consumer Protection — Misleading Advertisement Guidelines.
The Future of Advertising Will Be Multilingual
Regional-language advertising is not a replacement for national campaigns. It is an opportunity to make those campaigns more relevant to different audiences.
Brands that combine local insight, strong creative work and careful measurement can move beyond translation towards meaningful communication. The objective is not to use every language everywhere, but to identify where language can remove barriers and strengthen the customer relationship.
India’s advertising market will continue to evolve as digital access expands and consumer expectations change. In that environment, brands that listen to regional audiences and speak to them with authenticity may discover that growth begins with something surprisingly simple: being understood.
