PPM Research and Development

Arbitron’s PPM Listening Lab

Proven in the Lab and in the Field

Arbitron began its development of the Portable People Meter (PPM™) as a totally new multimedia measurement system in 1992. Our goals were based on a vision of the complexities of the future environment facing radio and television. Recognizing the need to develop alternatives to existing audience measurement methods, we focused on an audio encoding approach—with its multimedia capability—as the most promising method.

Since 1992, Arbitron has conducted more than 75 separate studies and field tests in the United States and in more than 15 countries to assess the performance of the PPM system. These studies have been focused in three critical areas:

• The performance of the encoding system
• The performance of the decoding system
• Respondent compliance and cooperation

Each study led to new learning, which in turn resulted in system modifications to improve overall performance.

The results of these tests led Canada, Belgium, Norway, Singapore and Kenya to select the PPM for commercial ratings or marketing information.

In addition to encoding, Arbitron is also exploring audio matching as an additional means to assure measurement of all broadcasts in a local market, even those that are not encoded.

Arbitron is conducting field tests of a “dual-function” PPM using current hardware. The dual-function meter can:

• Detect inaudible codes in the audio of stations that are equipped with the Arbitron PPM® encoder.
• Collect audio signatures for any broadcast, which are later matched to signatures collected by an in-market monitoring system.

To conduct these field tests, Arbitron successfully downloaded updated versions of audio-matching software into the current generation PPMs that were in the field Delivered through household phone lines, the software upgrade demonstrated that Arbitron could remotely convert “encoding-only” portable meters to “dual-function” audience meters.

Arbitron holds a number of patents for audio matching technologies.

Today, the U.S. radio industry can now benefit from the enhanced ratings provided by the PPM.

• Studies and Presentations

Development History

In developing the PPM, we realized that any new system with hopes of long-term success would have to address the following three basic issues:

1. Easier measurement:  a less burdensome method that would rely less on active respondent input to determine media exposure.
2. Comprehensive personal media measurement:  a method that could measure personal exposure to all electronic media, regardless of the delivery mode or where the exposure occurs.
3. Larger samples and more integrated information to differentiate audiences:  a method that can offer larger samples for segmented niches and more information for differentiation from competition.

These three issues helped guide Arbitron in our choices among new technology possibilities. We wanted to develop a system that would offer the following

• Measurement of both radio and television, through all delivery methods (e.g., analog and digital);
• Both in-home and out-of-home measurement;
• Measurement of exposure to signal/broadcast;
• An acoustic detection method that encompasses inaudible encoding of any audio material;
• A device small enough to meter individuals effectively.

View a detailed, illustrated synopsis of the PPM system

Abitron PPM® and PPM™ are marks of Arbitron Inc.