Arbitron agrees new PPM standards in DC and Baltimore
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US-- Arbitron has signed an agreement with the attorney general of Maryland setting out quality assurance standards for its portable people meter (PPM) radio ratings system in Washington DC and Baltimore.
The measures that Arbitron has agreed to implement are similar to those agreed in New York and New Jersey after the attorneys general of those two states sued the firm, claiming its new system was undercounting ethnic minority audiences.
The commitments made by the firm include increasing address-based sampling to 15% of the total sample frame by the end of 2010; increasing the proportion of cellphone-only households in the sample to 15% by the end of 2010; setting a target of 75% for the proportion of panel participants active in a given period; and setting specific sample targets for subcategories that make up more than 10% of the audience.
Arbitron said the measures were consistent with its ongoing improvement programmes for PPM services.
The Washington DC market, which extends into Maryland, switched over to PPM in December 2008, while Baltimore is set to make the switch in September.
The National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters and the Spanish Radio Association (SRA) welcomed the agreement in a joint statement, saying it was the first time Arbitron has taken steps to address such issues before commercialising PPM in a market.
However, the SRA added that in the absence of similar nationwide commitments from the firm, the same problems “will continue to plague broadcasters and advertisers in every market in which Arbitron has imposed or will impose its PPM system”.
Arbitron also announced last week that it is expanding its programme of in-person training visits to black and Hispanic panel members who show low levels of activity. The programme will cover the top ten PPM markets by the end of April.
Chief research officer Bob Patchen said the firm hopes to replicate the success of pilots in New York and Philadelphia last year, which showed “double digit” improvements in the percentage of active ethnic participants in the panel.
Fourteen markets, representing more than half the estimated ad revenue of the top 50, have so far made the switch from diary-based measurement to the PPM system. Nineteen more are set to follow during 2009.
Author: Robert Bain
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