Arbitron Webcast Ratings Measuring Peer-To-Peer Streaming.

Arbitron Inc. is measuring webcast audience listening to peer-to-peer (P2P) streaming as part of its monthly ratings with provider ChainCast Networks.

P2P is a streaming technology that creates a network of interconnected personal computers or peers, which distributes the bandwidth load across these many available computers.

ChainCast’s streaming multicast network is monitored and controlled by network management servers, which maintain a log of activities at the peer level. Arbitron measures P2P integrating this information with other streaming data.

ChainCast Networks, a P2P streaming company, has participated in the Arbitron Webcast RatingsSM since February 2002. In Arbitron’s April Network Webcast Ratings, ChainCast Networks ranked third with 2,889,400 aggregate tuning hours (ATH), the sum total of all hours that listeners tune to a given channel or combination of channels.

“Inclusion in the Arbitron Webcast Ratings provides us with a credible third party verification of our network traffic,” said Paul Distefano, president and CEO, ChainCast Networks.

“We are excited about being able to include valuable new technology providers like ChainCast Networks in our webcast ratings service,” said Bill Rose, vice president and general manager, Arbitron Webcast Services. ”