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Arbitron Enhances Portable People Meter to Distinguish Between In-the-Home and Out-of-Home Media Exposure 06.18.03
New GSM Modem and Portable Recharger Improve Ability to Meet Requirements of International Broadcasting Companies
NEW YORK, June 18, 2003 – Arbitron Inc. (NYSE: ARB) will enhance its Portable People Meter (PPM) system—an electronic audience measurement system—to include the ability to distinguish between in-home and out-of-home media exposure.
The PPM is the only electronic audience measurement system currently designed to track exposure to television and radio both in and out of the home. The enhanced PPM system employs radio frequency codes transmitted at very low levels by the PPM household collector to determine if consumers are in their homes or outside their homes when watching broadcast and cable television or listening to radio.
Arbitron will also add two new features to the PPM, which are important for the requirements of audience measurement in international markets. The company will offer a wireless Global System for Mobile (GSM) modem, in lieu of the existing landline modem, to accommodate the increasing penetration of homes with only a wireless phone. In addition, Arbitron will offer a portable recharger, which allows the PPM to store multiple days of media exposure data.
“The PPM system is demonstrating its capacity to adapt continually to the needs of media companies, agencies and advertisers around the world,” said Jay Guyther, senior vice president, International Marketing, Arbitron. “The ability to report when media exposure takes place in-home or out-of-home adds an exclusive new dimension to our single-source, multiple media audience measurement system.
“A GSM modem enables the PPM system to measure households that do not have landline telephone service,” said Mr. Guyther. “The recharger allows the PPM to be carried by respondents for extended periods. This means the PPM can be deployed in more flexible sample designs independent of the PPM household components that we designed for panel-based research.”
All three new features will be integrated into the PPM system in early 2004.
About Arbitron’s Portable People Meter System
Based on a pager-sized audience measurement device carried by consumers,
the Portable People Meter system automatically detects inaudible codes
that TV
and radio broadcasters as well as cable and satellite networks embed in the
audio portion of their programming using encoders provided by Arbitron.
At the end of each day, the survey participants place the meters into base stations that recharge the devices and send the collected codes for tabulation. The meters are equipped with a motion sensor that monitors the compliance of the PPM survey participants every day—a quality control feature unique to the Arbitron Portable People Meter in the realm of media research.
About
Arbitron
Arbitron Inc. (NYSE: ARB) is an international media and marketing research
firm serving radio broadcasters, cable companies, advertisers, advertising
agencies and outdoor advertising companies in the United States, Mexico and
Europe. Arbitron’s core businesses are measuring network and local market
radio audiences across the United States; surveying the retail, media and product
patterns of local market consumers; and providing application software used
for analyzing media audience and marketing information data. Arbitron Internet
Broadcast Services measures the audiences of audio and video content on the
Internet, commonly known as webcasts. The Company is developing the Portable
People Meter system, a new technology for radio, television and cable ratings.
Arbitron’s marketing and business units are supported by a world-renowned research and technology organization located in Columbia, Maryland. Arbitron has approximately 825 full-time employees; its executive offices are located in New York City.
Through its Scarborough Research joint venture with VNU, Inc., Arbitron also provides media and marketing research services to the broadcast television, magazine, newspaper, outdoor and online industries.
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