PPM- A Work in Progress ???

Just a few weeks ago I wrote about what was about to happen to our business as a result of Arbitron’s new method of ratings measurement called PPM (Portable People Meter). I said that if Arbitron continued with its plans to roll out this new measurement without making the necessary changes that the Hispanic and Urban broadcasters are demanding that the consequences would be dire. What has happened since then?

Since that time there has been a few developments on our end. First we have organized. We have formed the Spanish Radio Association (SRA) and the members include Spanish Broadcasting Systems, Univision Radio, Entravision and Border Media Partners. The SRA has had many conversations with Arbitron and we have painstakingly laid out what we believe are some of the key problems we have with PPM. We have taken our “fight” to Washington asking the FCC to look into the belief that PPM will place minority broadcasters at a severe disadvantage because it is our stations that are most affected by this new method of measurement.

We have also asked some key members of Congress to investigate this very same matter which they are in the process of doing as I write this. In New York, we have taken our fight to City Hall asking the New York City Council to continue to ask the very same questions they did last year when they asked Arbitron to consider delaying this new ratings treatment until they got an MRC review. In essence, we have continued to raise our concerns not only with continued dialogue with Arbitron but also anywhere else possible to have Arbitron reconsider their decision to go ahead with their October implementation of PPM.

Where are we today in this struggle? Sad to say aside from what I just reported we are still in the very same place we were when I originally wrote about this issue in May. After the many meetings we have had with Arbitron they have yet to admit that there is anything wrong with this new method regardless if it shows that our audiences (Black and Hispanic) have decreased anywhere from 50-60% across the board. They continue to declare that this new method is far superior to the old one (diary)- the very same method that they have had sold us as a legitimate way of measuring radio listening for years. And in this regard they have done a great job selling the notion that PPM is better to all the major advertisers and agencies so that when we take our argument to them it seems as though our position is merely a case of “sour grapes”! There still is a very large disconnect in what we believe and in what they want us to believe. They have convinced many in our business not only that this method is far superior to the old one but that it is a “work in progress”.

While by their own admission this new method is not perfect it still should be rolled out and adjustments will be made as they continue to make it better. There is only one problem with that line of thinking. By the time they get it right many Hispanic and Black broadcasters will be out of business.

They just don’t get it.

Frank Flores
VP & GM
WSKQ-FM & WPAT-FM
New York
Spanish Broadcasting System