Arbitron Reaches PPM Recruitment Goal In Houston.

Arbitron Inc. announced that it has reached its goal of recruiting 2,100 consumers, age six and older, to participate in the Houston demonstration of its Portable People Meter (PPMSM) system.

“We are extremely gratified by the success of our recruitment efforts and the willingness of consumers to join in our PPM panel,” said Pierre Bouvard, president, Portable People Meter and International.

“Arbitron went to Houston to demonstrate our ability to recruit a PPM panel in an ethnically diverse market, and further demonstrate that Hispanic and Black/African-American consumers will participate in a PPM media panel. Our recruiting success was consistent across key ethnic and racial groups. In addition, we have achieved a sample performance indicator (SPI) as of June 30 that is in line with our response rate goals at both the household level (43.2%) and individual persons level (28.1%).”

“We believe Arbitron has delivered a nearly passive, multimedia ratings panel that will stand up to the scrutiny of the radio and television industry and the Media Ratings Council, which is currently auditing our PPM operations in Houston,” said Jay Guyther, senior vice president, Portable People Meter.”

“With our full panel in place, we are now evaluating the viewing and listening data reported each day by the PPM. We look forward to sharing the first station-level PPM data from Houston-and the new insights into how consumers use radio and television that only portable electronic measurement can deliver-in September.”

Arbitron is also demonstrating two new technical innovations in the PPM system in Houston. One of the technical advancements makes it possible to automatically distinguish in-home and out-of-home radio and television use. The other addition enables the PPM to automatically detect and measure time-shifted viewing and listening done with digital video recorders (DVRs), digital audio recorders (DARs) as well as traditional taping systems such as VCRs. The Houston data that will be released in September, and then every month, will include these new consumer measures.

The Houston demonstration will continue through the Winter of 2006 to give radio and television broadcasters, agencies, and advertisers ample opportunity to evaluate the PPM system under real-world conditions.