Arbitron Defends PPM, Explains Away Ipsos

Arbitron defended its portable people meter measurement service and explained away Media Audit/Ipsos’s as being “strong on theory and weak on data” during a conference call with Bear Stearns on Thursday, Mediaweek writes. The call was intended to update the investment community on the commercial roll-out of Arbitron’s PPM audience measurement service.

Arbitron chief research officer Bob Patchen sought to right misconceptions about the PPM device, saying that it is not a pager, people do not think of it as a pager, and it doesn’t function as a pager. Rather, people are trained to use it, understand why they’re using it, and are incentivized to use it correctly.

As for the Media Audit/Ipsos’s measurement service, Patchen said that it is not true that everyone carries their cell phones all day, though business people certainly do. “My mother has a cell phone. She doesn’t carry it with her all day; she doesn’t carry it at all, frankly. My daughter on the other hand does have it with her, as a 19-year-old female,” he said.

He pointed out that there is much potential for bias based on the demographics of cell phone carriers, and that there’s a lot of work left to do on the concept to understand that bias potential.

Media Audit/Ipsos held a similar call with Bear Stearns on Wednesday.