June 19, 2026: Indian digital news has a monetization ceiling, and most operators have simply learned to live beneath it. Domestic audience CPMs hover between 0.2 and 0.3 USD, a structural reality that caps revenue no matter how much traffic a newsroom generates. The instinctive response has been to chase ever larger Indian audiences.
Akshansh Yadav, CEO – ITV Digital (India News, NewsX, The Daily Guardian, Blink, NewsX World), has taken the opposite view: the audience worth chasing isn’t bigger, it’s elsewhere.
The strategy is built on a simple but powerful insight into the economics of digital news.
International audiences command CPMs of 1 USD and above which are three to five times the Indian CPMs.
“India has world class editorial talent and the fastest, most cost efficient content engine on the planet, what we haven’t always done is point it at the world,” said Akshansh Yadav, CEO, ITV Digital.
“The CPM gap between Indian and international audiences isn’t a disadvantage; it’s an arbitrage opportunity. Global content built from India is the single biggest growth lever we have. This is now central to how we build, distribute and monetize across the entire network.”
The international content push builds on a year of momentum for ITV Digital, which has scaled revenue, traffic and audience engagement sharply in recent times, and extends the network’s stated philosophy of pursuing sustainable, fundamentals led growth rather than short term traffic spikes.
