Arbitron: FCC ‘has absolutely no authority’ to regulate PPMs

US— Arbitron has told the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that it has “absolutely no authority to impose regulations” on its portable people meter-based (PPM) radio ratings system.

In a filing with the FCC, Arbitron said: “Congress has considered on multiple occasions whether to put media audience measurement services under federal government regulation, and just as often has rejected doing so.”

The FCC launched an inquiry in May to examine the impact PPMs have had on radio stations targeting ethnic minorities, after complaints from station owners that ratings were down as their audiences were not properly represented in the PPM sample.

Arbitron disputed claims that minority-targeted stations were necessarily recording lower ratings as a result of the switch from paper diary-based measurement to PPMs, saying: “Some stations that feature formats appealing to Hispanic and black listeners have shown longer-term upward trends in their market rank and/or their audience ratings, and some have not. The facts do not support the proposition that PPM-based reports uniformly and categorically result in reductions in the reported listenership of stations that cater to minorities.”

In a lengthy statement the firm reiterated its promise to improve PPM methodology by recruiting more minority panellists and warned that the radio industry “is in danger of falling behind other media platforms”, such as TV and the internet, that are moving towards measuring audiences using “near-passive, electronics-based methods”.

Arbitron said the radio industry must “stay competitive” and “adapt to the 21st century” to attract advertising dollars, “even if there will be temporary dislocations for some stations in making the transition from the diary to the PPM service”.

Yesterday, the Media Ratings Council (MRC) said that industry regulation of audience measurement remained “preferable” to government intervention.

We hope you enjoyed this article.
Research Live is published by MRS.

The Market Research Society (MRS) exists to promote and protect the research sector, showcasing how research delivers impact for businesses and government.

Members of MRS enjoy many benefits including tailoured policy guidance, discounts on training and conferences, and access to member-only content.

For example, there's an archive of winning case studies from over a decade of MRS Awards.

Find out more about the benefits of joining MRS here.

0 Comments

Display name

Email

Join the discussion

Newsletter
Stay connected with the latest insights and trends...
Sign Up
Latest From MRS

Our latest training courses

Our new 2025 training programme is now launched as part of the development offered within the MRS Global Insight Academy

See all training

Specialist conferences

Our one-day conferences cover topics including CX and UX, Semiotics, B2B, Finance, AI and Leaders' Forums.

See all conferences

MRS reports on AI

MRS has published a three-part series on how generative AI is impacting the research sector, including synthetic respondents and challenges to adoption.

See the reports

Progress faster...
with MRS 
membership

Mentoring

CPD/recognition

Webinars

Codeline

Discounts