For the fourth quarter, Arbitron reported revenue of $65.4 million, an increase of 13.2% over Q4 of 2002. Costs and expenses for the quarter increased by 13.8% to $54.5 million.
Net income was $8.7 million, compared with $6.5 million. In the quarter, Arbitron reduced its long-term debt by $10 million to $105 million.
For the year, the ratings company’s revenue was $273.6 million, an increase of 9.5% over ’02. Net income for 2003 increased 16.6% to $49.9 million.
Arbitron President/CEO Stephen Morris stated of 2003: “We devoted considerable time, effort and money to our programs to enhance the willingness of the public to take part in our surveys, and continued our effort to improve how we manage the representation of Hispanics by their language preference. Working with Nielsen Media Research, we developed promising new sample recruitment techniques that make it possible for us to take the first steps toward deploying a second Portable People Meter demonstration market in the United States in 2004.
“We also enhanced the technical capabilities of the Portable People Meter system and continued to explore new ways to use that technology to meet the needs of marketers and advertisers,” he stated.
Arbitron Revenue Up 9.5% in 2003
Arbitron Revenue Up 9.5% in 2003
