During the last six months, 1.1 million Latvian residents have read one of the publications of the periodical press

During the last 6 months, an average of 71.5% or 1 million 108.4 thousand Latvian residents aged 16 to 84 have read or reviewed one of the last six issues of press publications, according to the results of the National Press Audience Study conducted by Kantar in 2023. The study collected information on the audience of 129 printed periodicals.

In 2023, the most read press publications in terms of total audience among Latvian residents were the weekly magazine “Ieva” with a total audience of 11.2% or 172.9 thousand readers, the weekly newspaper in Russian language “MK Latvija” with a total audience of 10.5% or 162.6 thousand readers, and the weekly magazine “Privātā Dzīve” with a total audience of 8.6% or 133 thousand Latvian residents aged 16 to 84.

In 2023, the weekly magazine “Kas Jauns” with a total audience of 8.5% or 131.9 thousand Latvian citizens, the biweekly magazine “Ievas Stāsti” with a total audience of 8 .2% or 126.9 thousand Latvian residents, the monthly magazine “Illustrated Science” with a total audience of 6.9% or 107.4 thousand readers, the monthly magazine “Illustrated World History” with a total audience of 6.7% or 103, 7 thousand readers, weekly newspaper in Russian language “MK Latvija” supplement “Televizor” with a total audience of 5.5% or 85.4 thousand readers, monthly magazine “Dārza Pasaule”, for which at least one of the last six issues of the magazine has been read by 5.5 % or 85.3 thousand Latvian residents and the monthly magazine “Santa” with a total audience of 5.4% or 82.9 thousand Latvian residents aged 16 to 84.

In 2023, the most read press editions among the population of Latvia according to the average audience of one issue were the newspaper “MK Latvija” in Russian, the weekly magazine “Ieva” and “Ievas Stāsti”.

On average, 6.1% or 94 thousand Latvian residents aged 16 to 84 read or reviewed one issue of the Russian-language weekly newspaper “MK Latvija”, 5.8% or 89.2 thousand readers of the weekly magazine “Ieva” and weekly magazine ” On average, 4.3% or 67.3 thousand residents aged 16 to 84 have read or reviewed one issue of Ievas Stāsti.

The weekly magazine “Privātā Dzīve” with an audience of 4.1% or 63.3 thousand readers, the magazine “Kas Jauns” with 4% or 62.3 thousand readers, the weekly program review “Laimīgā Programma” also ranks among the ten most read publications of the periodical press. with an audience of 3.8% or 58.6 thousand readers and TV program review “Televizor” published in Russian as a supplement to the weekly newspaper “MK Latvija” with an audience of 3.6% or 55.8 thousand readers, the monthly magazine “Illustrated Worlds Vēsture” with an audience of 2.9% or 45.5 thousand readers, the bi-weekly magazine “Ievas Veselība” with 2.9% or 44.7 thousand readers and the monthly magazine “Illustrētā Zinātne” with 2.8% or 42.8 a large audience of thousands of readers aged 16 to 84.

Media research client manager Solvita Kronberga comments: “According to the results of the press audience study in 2023, the circle of readers of printed press publications is stable in their reading habits of periodicals.

Looking at the results of this press audience study in different demographic groups, the total consumption of periodicals among Latvians is higher than among non-Latvians, residents of rural areas and other cities read and review printed periodicals more than residents of the city of Riga, and traditionally women read and review the printed press more than men.

The results of the research show that during the last 6 months, 67.5% or 554.3 thousand Latvian women and 56.8% or 413.7 thousand Latvian men aged 16 to 84 read one of the newspapers. On the other hand, during the last 6 months, 60.5% or 497 thousand Latvian women and 44.5% or 323.9 thousand Latvian men aged 16 to 84 read at least one issue of the magazine.

Among Latvian women in 2023, the three most read press publications in terms of the total audience of the press publication were the magazine “Ieva”, the magazine “Ievas Stāsti” and the Russian-language weekly newspaper “MK Latvija”. In the study, the most women noted that they were interested in cooking, health and wellness topics, as well as travel topics. On the other hand, among Latvian men in 2023, the three most read press publications in terms of total audience were the Russian-language newspaper “MK Latvija”, popular scientific illustrative monthly magazine about historical events “Illustrated World History” and popular scientific monthly magazine “Illustrated Science”. The majority of men noted that they are interested in topics about current political news, sports and cars, technology.

Among the periodical press readers of Riga, other cities and rural residents, the largest proportion of periodical press readers is among rural residents. During the last 6 months, 80.2% or 368.9 thousand residents of rural areas, 74.7% or 430.4 thousand residents of other cities and 60.2% or 309.1 thousand residents of Riga between the ages of 16 and for 84 years.

When the research participants were asked to evaluate the changes in their reading habits during the last three months, – whether they read the printed press more, less, or at the same level, – more than half – 60.2% answered that they read the printed press editions as much or more than before, only 20.3% of the research participants answered that they read less and 19.5% of the respondents noted that they did not read the printed press. Of the respondents who answered that they consume less or do not read the printed press, most respondents noted the reason that they read similar content on the Internet. Although the content of the Internet competes with the press in the rapid circulation of information, however, as the results of the study show, the habits of reading the printed press are still persistent in various demographic groups of the population of Latvia – more pronounced among women, Latvians and rural residents.”