Arbitron and Nielsen Media to Evaluate Portable People Meter 7/6/00 The Arbitron Company and Nielsen Media Research have announced an agreement that gives Nielsen Media Research the option to join The Arbitron Company in the deployment of the Arbitron Portable People Meter in the USA. The Arbitron Portable People Meter (PPM) is a new radio, television and cable audience ratings technology. The pager-sized device, worn by consumers throughout the day, automatically detects inaudible codes that broadcasters embed in the audio portion of their programming using encoders provided by Arbitron. At the end of each day, the meter is placed into a base station that recharges the device and sends the collected codes to Arbitron for tabulation. The technology has been successfully tested in the field in the UK in Manchester since 1998. Under the terms of the agreement, Nielsen Media Research will provide financial support and television survey research in the first large-scale American field test of the PPM system, which will be conducted by Arbitron in Philadelphia starting in late 2000. In addition, Nielsen Media Research has the option, after evaluating test results and market support, to join Arbitron in a future deployment of the PPM system in the United States.