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Media Audit/Ipsos Win Backing from Clear Channel, Others

Just as Nielsen competitor erinMedia has gotten big funding in recent weeks to launch its rival television ratings service, so Arbitron’s competitor, Media Audit/Ipsos, has received funding for a rival radio ratings service.

The Media Audit/Ipsos announced on Friday that the companies have received several million dollars in funding from a handful of broadcasters, including Clear Channel, Cox Radio, Cumulus Media, Radio One and Entercom Communications - all members of Clear Channel’s electronic radio committee formed in 2005 - to conduct a field test of its smart cell-phone ratings service, reports MediaPost.

The Media Audit’s service has been considered the only real rival to Arbitron’s PPM, and Media Audit executives say that they could commercialize the service in the top 10 markets by the end of 2008, with the top 50 markets by the end of the following year - a full year earlier than  Arbitron’s announced roll-out of the PPM.

Clear Channel has refused to encode its radio station signals to be tracked by Arbitron’s PPMs, and insists that other services need to be tested. Kathy Crawford, president of local broadcast for MindShare, says that testing is a good thing but that Arbitron is still the currency of choice.

“I am concerned they would still need Media Rating Council accreditation,” Crawford is quoted as saying. Without that, her agency will not subscribe.

Other agencies have said they find it difficult to believe that The Media Audit/Ipsos can move forward as quickly as they claim.

Arbitron just succeeded in getting MRC accreditation for its PPM service in Houston, after more than two years.

Last October, Arbitron filed a patent infringement suit against its rival.