Arbitron TV, Cable and Radio Audience Meter Releases.

Arbitron Inc. has released the first ratings results for its new television, cable and radio audience measurement system, the Portable People Meter (PPM).

Compared to ratings reported by current TV and radio audience measurement systems, the Portable People Meter is reporting higher total-day average quarter-hour audiences for television and cable and equivalent total-day average quarter-hour audiences for radio.

“Based on these first ratings results as well as the meter system performance, and the participation of consumers, we are moving forward with the next phase of the U.S. market trial,” said Marshall Snyder, president, Worldwide PPM Development, Arbitron Inc. “We will be talking with our customers and Nielsen Media Research about our schedule going forward.

“The ratings results are logical when you consider the audience measurement capabilities designed into the PPM,” continued Snyder. “It is the first electronic measurement device that automatically collects a person’s exposure to encoded radio, TV and cable programming no matter when and where it occurs. The PPM eliminates the need for people to constantly track their listening or viewing behavior by writing something down in a diary.

“We are encouraged by these first comparisons because we’ve also seen that the encoding system works as designed – broadcasters and cable networks can and do encode their audio on a continuing basis and the meters readily detect the inaudible codes,” said Snyder. “We have also been able to recruit and maintain a panel of consumers who are representative of the market we are measuring and who, on average, carry their meters for more than 15 hours a day.”

The Portable People Meter has been undergoing U.S. market trials within the Philadelphia TV market since December of 2000. 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 participants place the meters into base stations that recharge the device 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 all panel members every day – a quality control feature that is unique to the Arbitron Portable People Meter in the realm of media research.

Methodology

All PPM ratings results cited in this release are for the 35 radio stations, eight TV stations and eight cable networks that were encoding their audio signals in April, May and June 2001. The ratings results cited in the release for the Arbitron radio diary system and the Nielsen meter-diary system are for the same radio stations, TV stations and cable networks. Audiences for stations and cable networks that were not encoding in April, May and June are not included in these comparisons.

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