The study performed by NEPLP, in cooperation with the company Latvijas Fakti, regarding the habits of the use of the media content of Latvian residents and the needs of society was conducted in October 2020, surveying 1,547 Latvian residents aged 16 and above, as well as conducting interviews with media experts.
Latvian public service media maintains a high level of confidence among viewers and listeners, according to the study.
Latvian Television is trusted by 86% of the surveyed population, Latvia Radio is trusted by 83%, while the portal LSM.lv – 77% of the audience, which is 5% more than in 2019. The total population of public service media users exceeds 80%. However, the habits of media use are similar to that of the media environment as a whole: younger people, get more information on the Internet, whereas older people prefer traditional channels - television and radio.
The results of the study show that the popularity of Latvian Television, Latvian Radio and LSM.lv social media accounts, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and elsewhere, has increased particularly rapidly. Their number of users has increased by 14% over the year.
Social media accounts are particularly popular among young people. Most of them are people aged 25 to 34 – 55% of respondents to this age group. This is followed by 48% of young people aged 16-24 and 46% of the economically active population aged 35-44.
The portal LSM.lv is also more popular among younger people. The population aged 25 to 34 is most likely to visit it, 49% of respondents in this age group, followed by 35% of the population aged 35-44, 32% of the population aged 16-24 and 31% aged 45-54.
The study shows that the number of viewers in traditional channels is slowly decreasing – Latvian Television was watched by 68% (-1% compared to 2019) of Latvian society last year, with a decrease of 4% of Latvian Radio listeners (54%). Meanwhile, 28% (+1%) of Latvian residents use LSM.lv, while the social media accounts are used by 38% of Latvia's population, 14% more than a year ago.
According to the data of the study, 91% of Latvians and 63% of other nationals residing in Latvia use Latvian public media to obtain information.
