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Arbitron Sets Rollout Schedule For PPM
March 14, 2006 at 6:05 AM (PT)
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ARBITRON has announced that it will roll out Portable People Meter ratings service in the top 50 markets, starting in JULY in HOUSTON. The PPM will replace diaries as the source of radio ratings; the rollout will put the PPM in all top 10 markets by FALL 2008 and all of the top 50 by 2 to 3 years after that.
The company's President/CEO, STEVE MORRIS, said in a press release that "the termination of the NIELSEN MEDIA RESEARCH option for the PPM earlier this month has given ARBITRON the freedom to introduce the Portable People Meter as a local market, radio audience ratings system in the UNITED STATES. Now that we are finally able to make a commitment to roll out the PPM for radio, we anticipate that our customers will be more willing to make a commitment to the PPM as well.... we will continue to work with those of our customers who are in the process of examining options for the ‘next generation’ of electronic measurement. Today’s PPM is tenth generation technology; packed with state-of-the-art capabilities that are significant improvements over what we put in the field five years ago. And as the requirements of the radio industry continue to evolve, so will the Arbitron PPM in response to any ‘next generation’ needs.
We believe advertisers will have increased confidence in the medium
"We know one thing from our own experience with the radio industry during the development of the PPM: these sorts of ‘next-generation’ explorations always take far more time than anyone ever anticipates. We decided to move forward because there are important benefits that the rollout of the Portable People Meter is able to bring to radio today. 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."

