Arbitron Wins MRC Accreditation in Eleven Markets

In the US, the Media Rating Council (MRC) has accredited the monthly average-quarter-hour radio ratings data produced by Arbitron's Portable People Meter (PPM) in 11 more markets.

The announcement marks the first substantial tranche of accreditations after a number of delays. The new markets join Houston-Galveston; Minneapolis-St. Paul and Riverside-San Bernardino as accredited markets for the PPM ratings service, bringing the total number to 14. To date MRC accreditation has been denied in the other 34 PPM markets, based on the findings of the 2010 audits.

'Arbitron shares the MRC's commitment to improving the quality of audience measurement services,' stated Gregg Lindner, the firm's EVP, Service Innovation and Chief Research Officer. 'Thanks to the impact of our continuous improvement initiatives on quality of our samples and services, 11 more PPM markets can now display the MRC 'double checkmark' symbol.'

Lindner added that Arbitron will continue to work with the MRC to achieve accreditation for radio ratings across all PPM markets.

In addition, the MRC has accredited the PPM Analysis Tool, which is designed specifically for monthly average-quarter-hour PPM data.

Web site: www.arbitron.com .