PPM trial for Mall Radio Networks.

Arbitron Inc. announced the results of a second Portable People Meter pilot test with Mall Radio Network. The pilot successfully demonstrated that the Arbitron PPM system could be used to track the amount of time shoppers are exposed to Mall Radio Network content and commercials while visiting a mall.

Arbitron encoded Mall Radio Network’s content and used PPM devices, carried by consumers, to detect exposure to audio content and commercials broadcast by Mall Radio Network in the common areas of malls. This study represents the second successful trial to detect encoded audio content broadcast within a mall environment and collect mall shopper exposure to that content.

“This pilot study is another step toward providing PPM measurement to Mall Radio Network as a part of the top 50 market rollout of the Portable People Meter,” said Bill Rose, senior vice president, Marketing, Arbitron Inc. “The audience data that would be generated by the Portable People Meter system would complement other data that Mall Radio Network is currently using to demonstrate the role of ‘malls as media’ to prospective advertisers such as mall shopper metrics from Scarborough Research. And when Mall Radio Network is fully integrated into the PPM system, their audience metrics would be designed to be comparable with the radio audience measures used by national and local advertisers.”

“Mall Radio Network is pleased to associate our medium with the Portable People Meter, a widely acclaimed and accepted measurement technology,” said Kathy Crowley, vice president, Sales, Mall Radio Network. “Arbitron’s successful PPM test confirms that exposure to audio broadcast in malls can be tracked in the same fashion as exposure to terrestrial radio. Based on this study, and other supporting research information, we are confident that that PPM audience estimates for Mall Radio Network would be valid and reliable measures that can be used and accepted by national and local advertisers.”

Study results:

– The participants in the pilot study spent a considerable amount of time exposed to Mall Radio content in the mall common areas – 44% of their total time in the mall on average. Women respondents spent more time in the mall on average compared to men but spent a lower percentage of their time in the mall common areas.

– Virtually all of the survey participants (97 percent) heard the Mall Radio music in the common areas of the mall. Almost one-third of participants heard the advertising in the mall.

– The Mall Radio Network promotions or advertising played in the common areas appeared to have a strong influence on purchases made in the mall. Almost 50 percent of survey participants had ever made a purchase based on promotions or advertising played in the common areas.

– Overwhelmingly, the survey participants found the music playing in the common areas to be either just the right volume or slightly too low.

– The Mall Radio Network music made the shopping experience more enjoyable for a majority of survey participants

Since the study was designed both as a methods and technology trial, the results of the PPM survey conducted for Mall Radio Network are not projectable to the universe of mall visitors and are representative only of those surveyed.