Creative Media Services (CMS) Director Karlis Gudonis reported that advertising spend in Latvia has sunk by 20 percent in the last two months of 2008, The Baltic Course magazine reported Monday.

Print media declined by 32.5 percent in October 2008, compared to the same period last year.

Radio and television saw a 15.2 percent and 6.8 percent fall, respectively, in ad spend in October. According to CMS, the trend is a consequence of unattained yearly goals across businesses, which may have prompted them to decrease their marketing and advertising budgets.

In Latvia, there was a significant drop in the consumption of goods and services and "the only way to boost it is to allow for additional offers and advertising," Gudonis said, according to The Baltic Course. He added that it may not be a logical step to cut ad expenditure at this point.

The data was obtained through a survey conducted by TNS Latvia. A spokesperson said that online advertising was not taken into consideration.