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Next-Gen PPM to Go Smaller, Portable, on More Devices

New CEO tells RW Arbitron has OK'd new money to extend its platform

As radio moves its content onto other platforms, new Arbitron CEO Michael Skarzynski wants PPM to measure audience for that exposure and move into TV, Internet and wireless devices.

Questioned during a media conference call by Radio World about how Arbitron will develop its audience measurement as radio gets on portable devices and in what time frame, Skarzynski — an electrical engineer-turned-CEO — said the company has just approved an undisclosed sum of money to extend its PPM platform.

“Our tech roadmap calls for taking what you would look at today as a PPM hardware suite and moving, over time, to smaller devices and a software-only solution. The idea is the PPM software would allow Arbitron to measure listening and viewing on a laptop, smartphone or a flat-panel display hooked up to a cable TV head-end.”

If several things go as planned, Arbitron could beta-test a pilot within 12 months, he said.

Skarzynski spent the bulk of his career pre-Arbitron in telecom, where he said he worked at making phone calls faster and more efficient. From his time at AT&T and Bell Labs, he also was acquainted with some of the employees employed with the former Lucent Digital Radio, he said.

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