|
Arbitron To Extend Portable People Meter Ratings Trial Through Winter 2003 Survey
Extension does not delay scheduled response rate research or planned panel deployment in 2003.
12.05.02
NEW YORK; December 5, 2002 — Arbitron Inc. (NYSE:ARB) announced today that it will extend the ratings comparison portion of the Portable People Meter (PPM) market trial through March 28, 2003, in order to coincide with the Arbitron Winter 2003 radio survey period and the Nielsen Media Research January, February and March 2003 local market television survey periods.
Following a routine upgrade of encoding equipment in late October, Arbitron technicians discovered that audio input to the PPM encoder at KYW-AM was not set to the appropriate level, which may have inhibited the encoder's performance at KYW-AM during the Spring, Summer and the early part of the Fall 2002 radio ratings periods. KYW-AM engineers, working with Arbitron technicians, remedied the situation as of November 13, 2002.
Based on data from a new diagnostic tool created to facilitate the upgrade of encoding equipment, Arbitron also asked engineers at four other radio stations to increase slightly the audio input levels to their respective encoders. Arbitron believes that the encoders at these stations were receiving sufficient audio input throughout the test and that the performance of their encoders were not inhibited. Over the past few weeks, Arbitron has reviewed the performance of every encoder at the 49 radio stations, 11 television stations and 26 cable networks participating in the Philadelphia market trial.
"We're extending the ratings comparison portion of the trial by another full radio survey period to determine if out-of-spec encoder input might have affected the performance of the Portable People Meter during the Spring and Summer ratings period," said Owen Charlebois, president, U.S. Media, Arbitron Inc. "Our Radio Advisory Council and our customers have expressed a desire for more information to help them evaluate the PPM system. We are taking their advice to heart and giving the radio and the television industry another three months of comparison data for their evaluations."
No impact on current schedule for PPM development in 2003"This extension of the ratings portion of the trial does not impact our current thinking regarding our schedule leading to the commercialization of the Portable People Meter," said Mr. Charlebois. "Our previously announced response rate test will still take place in the first half of 2003, in parallel with this additional ratings analysis period.
"Once we refine the PPM sampling methodology through our response rate research, we still intend to use that methodology to build the first of the twin panels, as previously announced, in the latter part of 2003 and the second of the twin panels in 2004." continued Mr. Charlebois.
"I want to stress that this does not represent a flaw in the PPM technology," said Ron Kolessar, vice president, Technology, Arbitron Inc. "What we learned is that we need to refine our installation specifications and also to refine our procedures for verifying that the encoders have been properly installed. We are also improving the design of our in-station monitoring equipment to allow it to analyze more completely the quality of the encoded signal."
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 Webcast Services measures the audiences of audio and video content on the Internet, commonly known as webcasts. The Company is developing the Portable People Meter, a new technology for radio, TV 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 800 full-time employees; its executive offices are located in New York City.
Through its Scarborough Research joint venture with VNU Media Measurement & Information, Arbitron also provides media and marketing research services to the broadcast television, magazine, newspaper, outdoor and online industries.
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The statements regarding Arbitron in this release that are not historical in nature, particularly those that utilize terminology such as "may," "will," "should," "likely," "expects," "anticipates," "estimates," "believes" or "plans," or comparable terminology, are forward-looking statements based on current expectations about future events, which Arbitron has derived from the information currently available to it. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause our results to be materially different from results implied in such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include whether we will be able to:
Additional important factors known to Arbitron that could cause forward-looking statements to turn out to be incorrect are identified and discussed from time to time in Arbitron's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including in particular the risk factors discussed under the caption "ITEM 1. BUSINESS - Business Risks" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K, which discussion is incorporated herein by reference.
The forward-looking statements contained in this release speak only as of
the date hereof, and Arbitron undertakes no obligation to correct or update
any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future
events or otherwise.
