Arbitron announces commercialization schedule for Houston.

Arbitron Inc. announced that on Thursday, April 5, 2007, it will begin the process that will lead to the commercialization of the Portable People Meter ratings service in Houston.

The April 2007 (April 5 – May 2) and May 2007 (May 6 – May 30) PPM radio ratings reports are to be released as “pre-currency” data, but only to those stations and agencies that have signed a PPMTM license agreement.

The Winter 2007 (January 11 – April 4) diary-based ratings report, which releases on May 4, 2007 is being designated the “currency” in the market until the release of the June 2007 PPM ratings report on July 18.

“Houston station and agencies need to be aware that access to the “free” PPM demonstration data will be discontinued after the release of the March 2007 (March 8 – April 4) PPM survey period,” said Mr. Guyther. “Starting with the April pre-currency report (April 5 – May 2) only those stations and agencies that subscribe to the PPM radio ratings service in Houston will receive PPM radio ratings data.”

Arbitron is commercializing the Houston PPM radio ratings service following the accreditation of the Portable People Meter radio ratings data in Houston by the Media Rating Council® (MRC.)

“Users of the new PPM radio ratings currency in Houston—monthly data based on average quarter hour radio ratings—can have confidence that the radio methodology, sampling systems and survey processes that are the foundation of the PPM service have been independently and thoroughly audited and have met the standards of the MRC,” said Owen Charlebois, president, Operations, Technology and Research & Development, Arbitron Inc.

Once MRC accreditation was granted for the Houston Portable People Meter radio ratings data, Arbitron met with its customers–radio broadcasters, agencies and advertisers–to determine the most appropriate schedule for commercializing the electronic radio ratings service in Houston. The schedule being announced today reflects the conversations that Arbitron has had with the Houston marketplace.

The monthly PPM ratings for Houston will be available in three different formats with the release of the April PPM radio ratings report:

• PPM e-book–the Radio Market Report delivered electronically;
• summary-level data, including ethnic reports–released to licensed third-party software providers that have prepared their applications for the PPM data;
• respondent-level data–for use in the PPM Analysis Tool software.

To date, more than a dozen third-party processors—including Strata, Donovan, Harris, MRP and Tapscan—are licensed to receive and use PPM Summary Data.

In response to recent recommendations made by the Arbitron Radio Advisory Council and the Advertiser/Agency Advisory Council, the PPM rollout schedule in Houston and in subsequent markets is designed to:

• Allow subscribing stations and agencies to get the full value of their final diary-based ratings report;
• Ensure that there is only one “currency” for the buying and selling of radio advertising by eliminating any overlap in the use of PPM-based and diary-based ratings;
• Provide two individual months of PPM-based ratings before eliminating diary measurement to allow users to understand the differences between the two methods in each market; and
• Give radio stations and agencies more time to train their sales and buying staffs on how to do business in an electronically measured marketplace.