Arbitron Responds To PPM Letter From Senators

Steve Morris

Over the weekend (9/20), ARBITRON released a statement in acknowledgment of the letter the company received from Sens. DANIEL INOUYE (D-HI) and PATRICK LEAHY (D-VT) (NET NEWS 9/19), encouraging ARBITRON to "take all steps available, prior to rolling out the PPM system in additional markets, to ensure that the system accurately measures the listening behavior in a market and that no station is unfairly harmed." 

Read the full letter from INOUYE and LEAHY to ARBITRON, when you click here.

ARBITRON Chair./Pres. & CEO STEVE MORRIS noted, "We are pleased that Sen. INOUYE and Sen. LEAHY recognize the pre-eminent role of the MEDIA RATING COUNCIL process as the driving force for quality improvements in the ratings services that the media industry counts on. ARBITRON will continue to follow the minimum requirements of the MRC Voluntary Code of Conduct and will continuously strive to improve PPM radio ratings services.

"Throughout the deployment of the PORTABLE PEOPLE METER ratings services, ARBITRON has voluntarily briefed elected officials on many aspects of PPM radio ratings. We will keep Sen. INOUYE and Sen. LEAHY informed of our plans, progress and continuing efforts to deliver PPM radio ratings services that are valid, fair and representative of the diversity of the radio markets we measure.

"Broadcasters have long called for the adoption of a more precise and credible audience measurement tool. They want to meet the increasing demands of advertisers who have called on radio to adopt a more accountable radio ratings system in top markets that would be on par with those of other media," said MORRIS.

Mocarksy Comments Further

ARBITRON SVP/Press And Investor Relations THOM MOCARSKY also points out that, "ARBITRON is following the requirements of the MRC's Voluntary Code Of Conduct which, at a minimum, calls on us to accomplish three things before we commercialize a service in a market:

#1: Have the services audited by an external firm

#2: Have the audit report "illuminated" to the appropriate MRC committee

#3: Provide a period of demonstration data in the market (Arbitron's 'per-currency' period)

"All of these 'predicates' have taken place," he noted.

« see more Net News