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PPM Data for non-Commercial Stations
In the US, The Radio Research Consortium (RRC) - a non profit organization which provides audience data to non-commercial radio stations - has signed a multi-year deal with Arbitron for diary and Portable People Meter (PPM) syndicated radio ratings services.
Under the terms of the agreement, Arbitron will provide PPM data in the top 50 markets as they become available, and the RRC will sublicense this data to non-commercial stations and their supporting organizations.
RRC President Joanne Church said her organization is keen to explore the potential of the PPM methodology, especially its measurement of the public service component of non-commercial media programming.
Vincent Gardino, Executive Director of Underwriting/Radio & Digital Media, at New York public radio broadcaster WNYC-AM/FM welcomes the move, commenting: 'Having ratings data broadly available to all non-commercial radio stations will allow us to demonstrate the value of these stations as well as help us develop better programming to reach our communities.'
Over the next three years, Arbitron is scheduled to deploy the PPM in the top 50 markets in place of the paper diary method that the company has used to collect radio audience estimates since 1965.
However, in January, the Media Rating Council turned down accreditation of the PPM service in Philadelphia and New York. And to add to the controversy this morning, Bruce Beasley, the President of Beasley Broadcast Group, claimed in an earnings call that Arbitron's initiative to address the undersampling of the 25-34 demographic has resulted in an undersampling of the 18-24 sample, as well as a significant decrease in the sample of 34-44 year olds.
Web sites: www.rrconline.org and www.arbitron.com .
Last week, an institutional investor filed a law suit against Arbitron, charging the firm with 'false and misleading statements' regarding the roll out of its PPM service.
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