Eight markets to go “currency” with release of
September 2008 PPM survey report;
Company cites strong improvements in panel
metrics
NEW YORK; June 12, 2008 – Arbitron Inc. (NYSE: ARB) announced today that it
will resume the commercialization of its Portable People MeterTM
radio ratings service in eight markets.
“It’s time to move forward with electronic measurement for radio,” said Steve
Morris, chairman, president and chief executive officer, Arbitron Inc. “Radio
broadcasters and advertisers are taking bold steps in an effort to enhance the
accountability of the medium. The Radio Advertising Bureau recently published
guidelines for ‘posting’ and ad schedule guarantees and the American Association
of Advertising Agencies continues to advance its e-business effort: ‘Project
Reinvention.’ The Arbitron PPMTM is uniquely capable of delivering
the granularity, precision and speed of reporting that can help radio make these
and other accountability initiatives a success.”
“We have improved our PPM samples in the four key areas we outlined last
November. We have enhanced our ability to deliver PPM sample targets. We’ve
improved the composition of our PPM panels, especially among the 18-34
demographic. We’ve raised the day-to-day cooperation rate of our PPM
respondents. We’ve also put in place a number of programs designed to have a
positive impact on response rates. Our commitment to continuous improvement
means that we will keep working on these metrics as we go forward.”
“In the past weeks, we have been meeting with our clients to review the
progress that we’ve made since November and to hear their priorities for
enhancements to our PPM services. Our conclusion from these meetings is that our
PPM ratings are valid and the time is right for electronic measurement. Another
outcome from these meetings is that we have established working groups across a
number of constituencies within the radio industry to facilitate the exchange of
ideas and the implementation of our continuous improvement programs for the PPM.
At the same time, we are working diligently with the Media Rating Council in
order to achieve MRC accreditation for all our PPM markets.”
“We are also seeing that radio operators who have embraced PPM are benefiting
from PPM measurement. Over the past few months, there have been numerous reports
in the trade press about urban and general market broadcasters who have
successfully harnessed PPM ratings to advance their programming and sales
efforts. We should not continue to let other media use their more advanced
measurement systems to take audience and revenue away from radio,” said Mr.
Morris.
Eight markets–New York, Nassau-Suffolk, Middlesex-Somerset-Union, Los
Angeles, Riverside-San Bernardino, Chicago, San Francisco, and San Jose–will
commercialize with the release of the September PPM survey report on October 8,
2008. On that date, the company’s diary-based radio ratings will be withdrawn
from those eight markets and radio transactions among Arbitron-subscribing
stations and agencies will take place solely using PPM-based radio ratings.
Arbitron will deliver “pre-currency” PPM survey reports for Los Angeles,
Riverside-San Bernardino and Chicago with a special release of the June PPM
survey report in mid-July, and with the regular release of the July PPM survey
report on August 13 and the August PPM survey report on September 10.
Arbitron will deliver “pre-currency” PPM survey reports for San Francisco and
San Jose with the release of the July PPM survey report on August 13 and the
August PPM survey report on September 10.
Pre-currency reports cannot be used in buy–sell transactions. Arbitron has
released PPM pre-currency reports for New York, Nassau-Suffolk and
Middlesex-Somerset-Union since October 2007.
Arbitron commercialized the PPM ratings service in Philadelphia in March 2007
and Houston-Galveston in July 2007. In addition, PPM technology is currently
being used for radio and/or television measurement in Belgium, Denmark, Norway,
Iceland, Kazakhstan, Canada, and Singapore.
In the revised PPM commercialization schedule released by Arbitron in
November 2007, Arbitron indicated an expected commercialization of the Portable
People Meter ratings service in Atlanta, Dallas–Ft. Worth, Detroit and
Washington DC in December 2008. Arbitron is not altering that expectation at
this time.
Investor Conference call: schedule and access Arbitron will host a conference
call for investors on Friday, June 13 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time. The Company
invites you to listen to the call by dialing toll-free (888) 868-9083. The
conference call can be accessed from outside of the United States by dialing
(973) 935-8512. To participate, users will need to use the following code:
51268751. The call will also be available live on the Internet at the following
sites: www.arbitron.com, www.ccbn.com and www.streetevents.com.
About the Portable People Meter
The Arbitron Portable
People Meter system uses a passive audience measurement device– about the size
of a small cell phone–to track consumer exposure to media and entertainment,
including broadcast, cable and satellite television, terrestrial, satellite and
online radio as well as cinema advertising and many types of place-based
electronic media. Carried throughout the day by randomly selected survey
participants, the PPMTM device can track when and where they watch television,
listen to radio as well as how they interact with other forms of media and
entertainment.
The PPM detects inaudible codes embedded in the audio portion of media and
entertainment content delivered by broadcasters, content providers and
distributors. At the end of the day, the meter is placed in a docking station
that extracts the codes and sends them to a central computer. The PPM is
equipped with a motion sensor, a patented quality control feature unique to the
system, which allows Arbitron to confirm the compliance of the PPM survey
participants every day.