Arbitron to Go It Alone on PPM; Nielsen Drops Out

Nielsen Media Research has decided not to partner with Arbitron on commercial development of its Portable People Meter. Instead, Nielsen intends to adopt a “portfolio” strategy for TV ratings and said it would have more details within 90 days.
The decision comes after the two companies first discussed a joint radio-TV ratings approach in May 2000.
Arbitron has said there would have been economic benefits to a joint approach to PPM deployment.
“Now that we no longer have the obligations that came with the Nielsen option agreement, we are free to focus our resources on the best PPM ratings services possible for the U.S. radio industry,” said Steve Morris, Arbitron president and chief executive officer.
Arbitron said it is prepared to work with TV and cable directly on additional non-currency services that use PPM.
Nielsen said it had invested “millions” in R&D for PPM, but decided while it may offer benefits for radio, PPM was not suitable for “today’s complex television markets.”
Nielsen is interested in licensing PPM for one component of its portfolio of measurement instruments, to add out-of-home television viewing to its existing television ratings services, according to Arbitron.