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Arbitron Advisory Council Claims PPM as New Ratings Currency

Arbitron’s Advertiser/Agency Advisory Council announced a resolution earlier this week, stating that the company will introduce the PPM system as the ratings currency for radio in Philly, New York and Houston in 2007.

While most in the industry have been aware of the rollout schedule of the PPM for months, this is the first time that the Council has definitively stated that the company will use the PPM as the ratings currency in those markets.

The Arbitron Advisory Council believes that all radio stations in each of these markets should encode their signals for PPM measurement.

This is the second such resolution from the Advisory Council. The first, passed in October, urged Arbitron and the Media Rating Council to settle any issues that were currently preventing MRC accreditation of the system.

Accreditation by the MRC is, according to Clear Channel, the main roadblock keeping its radio-industry audit committee from making a decision to move forward with the PPM, writes MediaPost.
Many in the industry, however, believe that Clear Channel’s reluctance to adopt the PPM is simply a cover for price negotiations for ratings from the new measurement system, which is pricier than the former pencil-and-paper diary ratings. Jeff Haley, incoming president and CEO of the Radio Advertising Bureau, predicts that industry wide adoption of the PPM will take place by the end of 2007.

A list of the members of the Arbitron Advisory Council can be accessed here.