Arbitron Launches More Accurate Measurement For Radio Audiences
Arbitron, the leading provider of radio ratings, is moving beyond
their paper diary record-keeping days, by offering radio advertisers
a more accurate way to measure their audience. The New York company
currently bases its audience estimates on paper-and-pencil record
keeping by a selected group of listeners.
This summer a 50-city rollout of its �Portable People Meter.� It is
a small device that can clip onto a belt, and will provide the most
accurate measurement yet of which radio stations people listen to
and for how long.
The People Meter automatically notes everything its wearer listens
to in the course of a day, using encoding technology to recognize
which radio station, or even which retailer�s in-store music, a
listener heard.
Clear Channel Follows Suit
Similarly, Clear Channel Communications has announced they will test
a new radio measurement device in its Houston market, a step toward
putting Arbitron�s monopoly in radio audience measurement at risk.
The new device is a mobile-phone based system developed by The Media
Audit, a business of International Demographics of Houston, in
partnership with Paris-based Ipsos. The system works by giving
participants devices called Smart Cell Phones that track radio
listening by picking up an encoded signal.
Although radio
advertising was flat at $20 billion last year, radio executives
argue that if advertisers understood how much radio people listen
to, they would use the medium more. |