Equivalent to 83% of TV spend: Odia print daily tops Odisha’s govt’s Rs 84-crore ad list

One newspaper alone nearly matched what the Odisha government spent on 26 TV channels in the 18 months since the BJP under Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi took office in June 2024. Prameya, the Odia daily, received Rs 7.73 crore, accounting for nearly 83 percent of the state government’s total TV ad spend of Rs 9.36 crore. 

Meanwhile, its television counterpart, Prameya News 7, also topped the TV ad spend list at Rs 1.39 crore. This makes its parent company, Summa Real Media, the single largest beneficiary of the government’s Rs 83.85 crore advertising spend.

These figures come from the Odisha government’s written response in the state Assembly to a question by Rama Chandra Kadam, Congress MLA from Pottangi in Koraput district.

Prameya’s Rs 7.73 crore ad share was the highest for any newspaper in the state. With a circulation of 4,28,593 from September 2025 to February 2026, it is also the most widely circulated daily, ahead of Dharitri (3,07,592) and Sambad (2,51,825), according to government empanelment data. 

Newspapers accounted for the bulk of the state government's advertisements, at Rs 69.78 crore. After Prameya, the biggest beneficiaries were Dharitri (Rs 5.81 crore), Sambad (Rs 5.32 crore), The Times of India (Rs 4.87 crore) and Samaj (Rs 4.24 crore).

Of 211 print publications paid, 32 were national, 178 were Odisha-based regional papers, and one – Mumbai Odia Samaj (Rs 2.94 lakh) – was published in Mumbai. The 32 national papers together received Rs 16.71 crore, with the top five – ToI (Rs 4.87 crore), Hindustan Times (Rs 1.51 crore), The New Indian Express (Rs 1.36 crore), The Hindu (Rs 1.34 crore) and The Indian Express (Rs 1.27 crore) – accounting for about 62 percent of national newspaper ad spend.

On television, the government spent Rs 9.36 crore. Nine channels – Prameya News 7, Kalinga TV, Argus News, Kanak News, Doordarshan Kendra, News 18 Odia, Taranga, Zee Sarthak and Nandighosh TV – each received more than OTV, one of the state’s most-watched news channels, which ranked tenth in receiving government ads.

Online, national news websites were paid more than regional ones – Rs 1.87 crore versus Rs 16.87 lakh across 25 regional sites. Among national sites, Dailyhunt and OneIndia received the most at Rs 13.37 lakh each, followed by News18, Hindustan Times and The Indian Express at Rs 9.87 lakh each. IRCTC's site (MS Korshine) received Rs 2.88 lakh. Among regional sites, OdishaTV.in (Rs 2.46 lakh) and ETV Bharat (Rs 2.11 lakh) topped the list.

On radio, FM channels received Rs 2.15 crore, more than all regional websites combined, led by All India Radio at Rs 1.07 crore. Community radio received Rs 12.70 lakh. Hoardings for government publicity cost Rs 39.39 lakh and were placed across state headquarters, district offices, corporation and municipal offices, and block-level offices.

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