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Clear Channel: Two Dozen Proposals to Build a Better People Meter

Clear Channel’s request for proposals for a passive, electronic measurement system has brought in more than two dozen responses, writes Mediaweek. Final proposals, due December 15, will be reviewed by Clear Channel and representatives from a cross-section of the industry, followed by market tests and an audit from the Media Rating Council. The radio business has relied on diary-based measurement from Arbitron, but a recent study from Forrester Research has pointed to a need for radio to switch to a passive-based electronic system.

 

Arbitron says it has a three to five-year head start on the development of such a system, and has spent the past two months presenting its portable people meter ratings proposal to leading radio groups. It could deploy as early as April of 2006.

But John Hogan, CEO of Clear Channel Radio, wants to see what other options might be available, and said he believes Arbitron’s rollout of the portable people meter was going too slowly. Still, if any of the other companies that have responded to Clear Channel’s RFP can actually create such a system, it would have to pass an audit from the MRC on a fielded service.

“It’s one thing to be a guy in a garage with a great gizmo,” said Pierre Bouvard, president of PPM for Arbitron. “The tough part is understanding what it takes to get the American consumer to participate in ratings surveys. Unless you’ve been at it day in and day out, like Arbitron, you’re not going to be able to field a reliable service for hundreds of large, small and diverse markets on short notice.”

According to Mediaweek, Clear Channel’s RFP could actually wind up delaying the implementation of electronic measurement for radio.