10 Questions with ... Pierre Bouvard

NAME:Pierre Bouvard TITLE:President Sales & Marketing COMPANY:Arbitron FORMATS:All LOCATION:142 West 57th Street New York, NY

1. Obviously, we want to focus on the future and PPM and some of the issues that directly affect Urban and Urban AC stations. What are the essential things Urban radio programmers and marketers need to know about PPM? How would you describe Arbitron's current PPM samples?

Arbitron's PPM samples are usually right on index or over index of 6 plus African-American samples

2. What are those numbers?

In Houston, African-Americans represent 16.5% of the 6+ population. Over the last six months, African-Americans have averaged 18.5% on the Houston 6+ PPM sample.

Dividing the percentage of African-Americans in the PPM Houston panel (18.5%), over the African-American percentage of the Houston population (16.5%), you get a sample proportionality index of 112; you like to see sample proportionality indices around 80-120 for a life group that makes up at least 10-20% of the market population.

That means Arbitron's Houston African-American PPM sample is 12% higher than the proportion of the African-Americans than exist in the market. In Houston, Arbitron over-represent and over-indexes on African-Americans.

3. What happened in Philadelphia?

In Philadelphia, African-Americans represent 20.8% of the 6+ metro population. Over the last six months, African-Americans have represented 20.8 % of the 6+ PPM Philadelphia panel. Divide the proportion of the Philly PPM panel that is African-American (18.5%) over the percentage of the 6+ metro population that is African-American (18.5%) and you get a perfect proportionality index of 100.

What does that mean? A 100 index means that our PPM Philadelphia panel well represents the proportion of the 6+ African-American population in the market.

4. Things are changing rapidly in our business. According to a recently issued letter from Jim Winston of NABOB, based on the early results of the PPM in Philadelphia, low-sample size among African Americans in the 18-24 demo caused problems with reliability of the data. What's the real story here?

Can we do a better job of getting younger demos in our PPM samples? You bet. Just like with the diary, getting a proportional representation of 18-34s in our PPM panels is a challenge. Across all ethnic groups (Hispanic, African-American and non-ethnic), the younger demos are under-represented in the diary and PPM samples. It has to do with the young demo, not the race or language preference. Arbitron has implemented a whole series of programs aimed at improving young person representation in our PPM panels.

5. What are some of the biggest mistakes currently being made by programmers and agencies representing Urban stations when looking at Arbitron PPM numbers?

First of all, Urban radio is the only way to effectively and efficiently reach the African-American consumer, according to an analysis of PPM data by Mark O'Neil of ROI Media Strategies. While general-market stations attract occasional African-American cume, the majority of black quarter-hours go to Urban radio. Mark's study of PPM reveals that 75% of all black persons 12+ are P1 to Urban radio.

Mark O'Neil's PPM study also found that the black audience is extremely loyal to Urban radio. ROI Media Strategies finds that 80% of all Urban radio P1 quarter-hours go to Urban radio. Which life group has the highest percentage of listening to their P1 station? African-Americans.

DMR, A leading direct marketing firm for radio stations, is releasing a new study on "P1s in a PPM World" at the upcoming NAB show. DMR's has calculated a loyalty score based on what percentage of total radio listening goes to someone's P1 station. Again, the life group that had the highest percentage of listening to their P1 station was African-Americans.

6. Of all the major formats, which format does DMR find has the highest percentage of listening to the P1 stations and the highest time-spent-listening overall?

The answer is Urban AC. According to ROI Media Strategies' Mark O'Neil, employment drives Urban radio 's average quarter-hours (AQH) in a PPM world. Time Spent Listening to Urban radio among those that work is double versus those that don't work.

7. How does Urban radio factor in time-spent-listening among those that work In Philadelphia?

Urban radio has twice the Time Spent- Listening (TSL) among those that work. In Philadelphia, the TSL to the five Urban stations is 12 hours a week among those who work and only six hours a week among those who don't work. That's double the TSL.

8. What is the real overall story with employment with PPM?

Employment is what drives any station's listening in a PPM world. Regardless of the ethnic group or language preference, the bulk of the radio quarter-hours are from people who work. In Philadelphia, here's the percentage employed listeners of Urban radio:

WUSL - 90%
WPPZ - 78%
WDAS - 76%
WPHI - 66%
WRNB - 65%

9. It would seem that this is a great sales story for Urban radio.

It is a great sales story. The finding is that employment is what drives Urban radio listening.

10. Any final thoughts?

Just this: Mark O'Neil will debut his new presentation on PPM and Urban radio at Interep's upcoming "Power of Urban Radio" conference Thursday September 20th in New York. The presentation is a powerful set of sales stories on the strength of Urban radio in a PPM world.