PPM Is On In Philly, Minus Clear Channel

Got PPM?

As of this morning, the paper-and-pencil diary system is officially over in PHILADELPHIA as ARBITRON kicks off its PPM ratings service, but the latest report has CLEAR CHANNEL still not encoding, which means they will not be counted in the WINTER '07 PPM numbers -- unless they meet some Minimum Reporting Standards.

A last-minute check by ALL ACCESS with CLEAR CHANNEL netted this response from Chief Communications Officer LISA DOLLINGER, "There's no change in the company's plans at this time." Stations do not have to be a subscriber to PPM to encode their signal.

These are the very last 'currency' radio ratings for Philadelphia that we intend to tabulate using entries written in diaries.

ARBITRON SVP/Press & Investor Relations THOM MOCARSKY also officially confirmed to ALL ACCESS: "No change in the encoding status of CLEAR CHANNEL radio stations as of this morning."

Minimum Reporting Standards Defined

There are no specific guidelines for days of encoding in a weekly or monthly report. So, if CLEAR CHANNEL does decide to come to the PPM encoding party, it must meet some Minimum Reporting Standards during the report period, regardless of subscriber status.

According to ARBITRON: "No audience estimates or nonaudience station information will be reported for stations that are not encoded during the report period.

"An encoded station or combo is eligible to be listed in the Radio Market Report if the station or combo has achieved an average Weekly Cume Rating of at least 0.5 among Metro Persons 6+, during the MONDAY-SUNDAY, 6AM-Midnight daypart, for the applicable report period."

It should be noted that a day without encoding counts as a zero when calculating the weekly/monthly average Cume Rating.

PPM Overview

According to ARBITRON: "The FALL 2006 diary-based ratings report is being designated the 'currency' in the market until the release of the MARCH 2007 PPM ratings report. The JANUARY 2007 and FEBRUARY 2007 PPM radio ratings reports are to be released as 'demonstration data.'"

ARBITRON Ratings Services SVP JAY GUYTHER said, "We have truly ended an era with the delivery of the Radio Market Report for the FALL Survey. These are the very last 'currency' radio ratings for PHILADELPHIA that we intend to tabulate using entries written in diaries. The arrival of the PPM service also means the end of ARBITRENDS for PHILADELPHIA. Instead of WINTER Phase 1 and 2 ARBITRENDS reports, subscribing stations will receive monthly PPM-based audience estimates using the installed PPM sample, which is planned to be 2,040 persons, age 6 and older."

The first PPM monthly audience estimates are scheduled to release on FEBRUARY 28 for the monthly survey of JANUARY 11 to FEBRUARY 7. PPM subscribers should receive the electronic ratings 21 days after the end of each monthly survey, including a "Holiday Survey" for listening between DECEMBER 13, 2007 and JANUARY 9, 2008. See the delivery schedule when you click here.

In addition, subscribing radio broadcasters should begin receiving weekly PPM data beginning MARCH 28, covering the first four weeks of the FEBRUARY survey. Weekly downloads will begin APRIL 2, starting with the period of MARCH 8-14.

GUYTHER added, "Our PPM panel design supports weekly reporting with the same large sample sizes as the monthly reports, so the PPM Weeklies will be 52 discrete reports -- not rolling averages -- with the same demos and dayparts as delivered in our current ARBITRENDS service."

« see more Net News