The Latvian advertising market totalled 40.5 million lats (EUR 63.58 million) last year, up by 18% from 2001, according to the Latvian Advertising Association.
Nearly half or 46.5% of all advertisements were placed in the print media, while television advertising made up 33.7%, radio advertisements 12.5%, outdoor media 5.4%, Internet advertising 1.2%, and cinema advertising 0.8%.
The most rapid growth was still observed in Internet advertising, said Kaspars Ulsts, Director of the market research company Baltic Media Facts, at a news conference on 13 March 2003. Ulsts added that advertising in more traditional media - the press, TV and radio - was also expanding steadily.
Ulsts said that parliamentary elections in Latvia last year were only one of the factors contributing to the growth in advertising. In 2001 Latvia also saw a political campaign prior to municipal elections, therefore the growth in the advertising market was a reflection of general economic trends in the country.
Latvia last year had the highest advertising turnover in the Baltic States. In Lithuania, the advertising market grew 18% to EUR 61 million in 2002, and the Estonian market increased 8% to EUR 47 million.
Advertising per capita in Latvia last year was about 17 lats.
President of the Latvian Advertising Association Ainars Scipcinskis told the press that the market will continue to develop along the same lines this year, as it still had room for growth.
He said it was possible for Latvian advertising market turnover to grow to over 60 lats per capita.
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