Arbitron: Initial Round Of Ratings Results From 2nd Phase Of The Portable People Meter Trial.

Arbitron Inc. released an initial round of ratings results from the second phase of the Portable People Meter (PPM) U.S. market trial in Philadelphia.

Compared to existing methods of measuring media audiences, the Portable People Meter continues to report higher average quarter-hour audiences on a 24-hour day, total-week basis for the combined electronic media stations and networks that encoded full time. The February 2002 PPM results show increased average quarter-hour audiences for broadcast and cable television, and somewhat higher average quarter-hour audiences for radio. (See summary findings below.)

The latest Portable People Meter findings from early weeks of the expanded panel of 1,500 consumers in the Philadelphia radio and television market confirm the pattern of observations that were reported in the previous three ratings comparisons from last year’s more limited phase of the trial in Wilmington, Delaware. These findings continue to suggest that Arbitron’s new ratings technology is tracking media exposure that is not included in today’s generation of TV and radio ratings methods.

“These four comparisons, from two separate panels of consumers, indicate that the PPM can track consistently people’s exposure to radio, broadcast and cable television, in and out of the home,” said Steve Morris, president and chief executive officer, Arbitron Inc. “The Portable People Meter is a system that is showing its potential. However, it’s clear that there are aspects of the PPM data that need to be explored in more detail. The expanded evaluation program that we are announcing today will be essential to any ultimate acceptance of the new technology in the marketplace.”

Expanded Evaluation Program of PPM results

With the initial release of ratings results from the second phase of the Portable People Meter, Arbitron announced that it would expand its ongoing evaluation of the audience estimates produced by the Arbitron Portable People Meter in Philadelphia.

“Our goal now is to continue our work with the industry to examine the PPM results in detail,” said Steve Morris. “We all need to understand what these estimates mean in terms of consumer use of radio, broadcast television and cable television as well as how these estimates compare to those produced by existing measurement systems. In this way, we continue to build a knowledge base that will allow all of us to understand and fairly evaluate the potential of the PPM as data collection tool for the business of advertising on the electronic media.”

“We will continue to involve the industry in our evaluation of what these estimates are telling us about today’s radio, broadcast television and cable television audiences,” continued Mr. Morris. “We will schedule a series of meetings, webcasts and web-based interactive presentations. We will also be giving the industry direct access to PPM data through a new software application so our customers may evaluate the PPM ratings using their own resources and expertise. In this way, the industry will have the opportunity to evaluate the PPM results from both a research and business perspective.”

Nielsen Media Research, which has an option to join Arbitron in the commercial deployment of the Arbitron Portable People Meter in the United States, will participate in this expanded evaluation of the PPM results and will assist Arbitron in its analysis of the differences between the PPM trial results and Nielsen’s reported audience measurement data in Philadelphia.

To help understand the differences reported by the Portable People Meter compared to the Nielsen meter/diary estimates and Arbitron radio diary estimates, the evaluations will include an examination of:

demographics of the Nielsen and Arbitron samples;

compliance and non-response patterns;

out-of-home viewing;

overnight audiences;

zero demographic cells in meter/diary estimates;

different definitions of audience (exposure to audio vs. watching or listening);

weighting;

edit rules and other possible areas.

Summary of February 2002 Ratings Results

The initial round of ratings comparisons for phase two of the Portable People Meter U.S. Market trial is from the early weeks of the expanded trial, and is limited to total radio, broadcast television and cable television audiences for the month of February 2002. The time period covered, January 31 to February 27, 2002, is equivalent to the Nielsen Media Research February television survey period and Phase Two of the Arbitron Winter 2002 radio survey period.

Compared to existing methods of measuring media audiences, the Portable People Meter continues to report higher average quarter-hour audiences on a 24-hour day, total-week basis for the combined electronic media stations and networks that encoded full time. The February 2002 PPM results show increased average quarter-hour audiences for broadcast and cable television, and somewhat higher average quarter-hour audiences for radio.

For radio, the PPM again reported a higher average daily cumulative audience: 84.8 percent for the PPM vs. 73.7 percent for the Arbitron radio diary. The PPM also showed less time spent listening for radio: 3 hours and 20 minutes per day for the PPM vs. 3 hours and 35 minutes per day for the diary.

As in the first phase of the market trial, the PPM, now using a new, larger panel of consumers deployed in the Philadelphia radio metro, continues to report differences in radio listening patterns by daypart. Morning-drive and mid-day AQH ratings are slightly lower according to the PPM, while Monday-Friday afternoon drive, evening and overnight AQH ratings are higher as are weekend AQH ratings.

As with the previous three findings, these comparisons for February 2002 indicate that, for broadcast and cable television, the PPM is reporting higher AQH audiences for all dayparts. These increases appear to be due in part to increased viewing for men and people under age 35, as well as substantially higher cable viewing overall and the PPM’s ability to track viewing out of home.

About the Comparisons

For the month of February 2002, 35 radio stations, seven broadcast television stations and 20 cable networks were encoding their audio full time and are included in these ratings comparisons.

The panel of consumers used for these ratings comparisons is representative of the market being measured in terms of the 37 sub-classes for the control variables of household size, employment status, presence of children, ethnicity, geography, number of TV sets and cable/satellite TV status. The panelists have carried the meters with them more than 15 hours a day (median value) throughout the month of February.

The radio ratings comparisons are between February 2002 PPM data and the Winter 2002 Phase I and II Arbitron diary data. These comparisons are for Persons 12+, as the radio diary survey begins at age 12.

TV ratings comparisons are made with data from the Nielsen meter/diary integrated estimates for the total Philadelphia DMA® for the February 2002 Nielsen survey. These data are compared with the February 2002 PPM results for total Persons 6+, which is currently the youngest age for PPM measurement.

Status of the U.S. Market Trial

The successful first phase, conducted from December 2000 to November 2001, included three separate comparisons of total radio, broadcast and cable television audiences generated by the PPM and existing audience measurement systems. Arbitron found that, compared to ratings reported by current TV and radio audience measurement systems, the Portable People Meter reports higher total-day average quarter-hour (AQH) estimates for consumer use of electronic media – radio, TV and cable. At its peak, 300 individuals were carrying portable people meters in the Wilmington, Delaware Radio Metro, which is embedded within the Philadelphia DMA®.

On January 3, 2002, Arbitron began recruiting a new, representative panel of consumers across the Philadelphia radio and television marketplace for the expanded second phase of the U.S. market trial of the Portable People Meter. As of March 31, 2002, approximately 1,520 individuals in the Philadelphia TV marketplace, age six and older, have been outfitted with the new passive audience measurement device, which automatically reports their exposure to the 79 radio stations, broadcast television station and cable networks that are currently encoding their audio signals for the U.S. market trial.

Encoding Status Summary

As of April 1, 2002, 10 TV stations, 47 radio stations and 22 cable networks serving the Philadelphia market, are participating in the trial by encoding their signals using the latest generation of Arbitron encoders. Many of these stations and networks have been using Arbitron PPM encoders since August 2000.

About the Portable People Meter

The PPM is a pager-sized device that is carried by consumers. It automatically detects inaudible codes that TV and radio broadcasters as well as cable networks embed in the audio portion of their programming using encoders provided by Arbitron. At the end of each day, the survey participants place the meters into base stations that recharge the devices and send the collected codes to Arbitron for tabulation. The meters are equipped with a motion sensor that allows Arbitron to monitor the compliance of the PPM survey participants every day – a quality control feature unique to the Arbitron Portable People Meter in the realm of media research.

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