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Arbitron to Delay PPM Rollout in Nine Cities

Arbitron to Delay PPM Rollout in Nine Cities

Nov 28, 2007 11:08 AM

New York – Nov 26, 2007 – Arbitron will delay the commercialization of its Portable People Meter (PPM) radio ratings service in nine markets. New York, Nassau-Suffolk and Middlesex-Somerset-Union will be delayed by nine months; Los Angeles, Riverside and Chicago by six months; and San Francisco, San Jose and Dallas by three months.

In these nine markets, the company will extend the use of the paper and pencil diary system that has been used since 1965. During the delay, Arbitron will continue to work with customers, the Media Rating Council, other industry organizations and community groups on the research and business issues related to the Portable People Meter radio ratings service in local markets.

Arbitron says it has a number of initiatives in the works for the first quarter of 2008 that the company believes will improve the performance of PPM samples. The revised schedule is as follows.

MarketFormer ScheduleNew schedule New YorkDecember 2007September 2008 Nassau-SuffolkDecember 2007September 2008 Middlesex-Somerset-UnionDecember 2007September 2008 Los AngelesMarch 2008September 2008 RiversideMarch 2008September 2008 ChicagoMarch 2008September 2008 San FranciscoJune 2008September 2008 San JoseJune 2008September 2008 DallasSeptember 2008December 2008

Arbitron intends to introduce the Portable People Meter service in Atlanta; Detroit; Washington, DC; and in subsequent markets, as originally scheduled. The ratings for the September 2008 PPM survey month (Aug. 21 to Sept. 17) are scheduled to be delivered on Oct. 8, 2008. The first currency survey month in Los Angeles, Riverside, Chicago, San Francisco and San Jose will be preceded by two pre-currency monthly PPM reports in July and August. In Dallas, the two pre-currency months will be October and November 2008. The first currency month in Dallas will be the December PPM survey month (Nov. 13 to Dec. 10) scheduled to be released on Dec. 31, 2008.

New York, Nassau-Suffolk and Middlesex-Somerset-Union pre-currency data will continue to be released through August 2008 but only as monthly reports for research and evaluation purposes, and not in a format that can be used by software systems that have a scheduler module, which is used for the buying and selling of radio station advertising.

This decision does not affect the PPM radio ratings services currently in operation in Houston and Philadelphia. Monthly, and weekly ratings reports based on the currently installed PPM panels in these two markets will continue to be issued.

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