First PPM currency data releases in Philadelphia.

Arbitron Inc. released the first “currency” radio ratings from the Philadelphia Portable People Meter radio ratings service, officially inaugurating the era of electronic measurement of radio audiences in the United States.

The March Portable People Meter (PPMTM) survey ratings, covering March 8 through April 4, is being delivered to subscribing radio stations, agencies and advertisers to be used in the buy/sell process for radio commercial time and as the basis for making programming decisions.

Philadelphia is the first radio market in the United States to be measured by the Arbitron Portable People Meter system, an electronic audience measurement technology that has been in U.S. market trials since 2001. Over the next three years, the Portable People Meter is scheduled to be deployed in the top 50 markets in place of the paper and pencil diary method that the company has employed to collect radio audience estimates since 1965.

Radio Gains a New Level of Accountability

” This is an important day for the American radio industry. Radio advertisers have been united in their desire for radio to enhance its accountability by adopting electronic measurement of radio audiences,” said Steve Morris, president and chief executive officer, Arbitron Inc.

“We believe advertisers will have increased confidence in the medium, thanks to the increased accountability that electronic measurement delivers. Stations will have new audience insights to make improvements to their programming and broadcasters will be better able to garner incremental revenue from new and existing advertisers,” said Mr. Morris. “We’ve already seen in our previously published studies of Portable People Meter estimates that radio audiences during commercials are far higher than anyone suspected.”

African-American Radio Listening Highest in Terms of Key Listening Metrics

PPM data in Philadelphia continues to show that radio delivers consistently high levels of weekly and daily Cume audiences. The PPM also indicates that African-Americans spend more time listening to radio than other consumer segments of the Philadelphia market.

How to read: the average audience for radio in any given quarter-hour during the Monday-Sunday 6:00am to Midnight daypart is 9.1 percent of all Persons, age 6 and older. Over the course of a week, 96.3 percent of all Persons, age 6 and older, listen to radio.

PPM Reveals New Sales Paradigm for Radio: The Medium That Delivers Consumers Who Work Full Time
One compelling new finding indicated by the Portable People Meter ratings (at least in Philadelphia) is the dramatic increase in the composition of the radio audience (persons 18+) who are employed Full Time compared to what was reported by the radio diary.

Average Quarter-Hour Audience Composition by Employment Status
Philadelphia Radio Metro Survey Area
Monday-Friday 6:00a.m. – 7:00p.m.

As with the overall population, radio’s “working persons” advantage also applies for the African-American listener, but to a larger degree in the PPM ratings data. The PPM data in Philadelphia indicate that the composition of the average quarter-hour radio audience for black persons 18+ is significantly higher than what diary-based radio ratings had previously indicated.

PPM AQH Composition Confirms Targetability of the Radio Formats

“Just as we have seen in our test markets, the Philadelphia March 2007 ratings show significant growth in the total audience reach of individual radio stations. That means advertisers can now turn to radio for something that they prize: the ability to deliver reach against a specific target audience,” said Pierre Bouvard, president, Sales and Marketing, Arbitron Inc. “We also see that, even as individual station Cume audiences have increased, radio still maintains its targetability.”

Average Quarter-Hour Audience Composition
Philadelphia Radio Metro, March 2007
Monday-Sunday 6AM – Midnight
Persons 6+

“The PPM ratings data clearly say that if you want an efficient ad schedule to reach your target audience, you need to consider stations and formats that deliver the highest percentage of AQH composition for your target audience. For example, you can’t effectively reach African-Americans without urban radio,” said Julian Davis, director, Urban Media Services, Arbitron Inc.

PPM Turnover Measure Highlights Listener Loyalty by Market Segment

A radio industry metric called “turnover” is another means of highlighting radio station listener loyalty. The PPM data indicate that listeners to African-American stations have the highest loyalty to the radio stations they listen to.

“As with all media research, some estimates of radio audience behavior will vary from one market to the other,” noted Mr. Davis. “That said, we believe the industry should be encouraged by the positive findings for the medium that the Portable People Meter is indicating.”