Underestimated Radio in the Latvian Market

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to reveal why, after introducing a new research methodology of radio ratings, the audience for a lot of stations has even doubled and the number of total radio listeners in Latvia has significantly increased. To conduct the research, regular listeners’ research empirical data were compared and analyzed, as well as a number of major industry experts were questioned. The research results indicate the reasons why “Day-After-Recall” radio research method provides much better results for radio as media than previous “Diary” method. These findings may and probably will fundamentally affect advertisers’ media strategy decisions in the Latvian market. With much more precise and objective radio rating research tools, it is proven that radio as media has been undervalued for years. This misperception of radio potential has been based on wrong assumptions that radio is not able to generate enough audience in order to sustain its important role in reaching general audience nowadays.