Arbitron

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Arbitron Inc.

Type	Public NYSE: ARB
Founded	New York City
Headquarters	New York City, New York, United States
Key people	Stephen B. Morris Pres. & CEO
Area served	United States, Mexico
Industry	Media Research
Products	ratings data,
Website	www.arbitron.com

Arbitron (NYSE: ARB) is a radio audience research company in the United States which collects listener data on radio audiences similar to that collected by Nielsen Media Research on television audiences. It was founded as ARB by Jim Seiler in 1949, and became Arbitron in the 1960s.

1 Methods
- 1.1 Survey
2 Portable People Meter
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Methods

[edit] Survey

Arbitron collects data by selecting a random sample of a population who are asked to maintain a written diary describing each radio program listened to. Each selected household agreeing to participate, is provided a diary for each member aged 12 and older for one week, typically beginning on Thursday and ending the following Wednesday. At the end of the week, the completed diaries are returned to Arbitron by post. Until recently survey participants have been compensated with one fresh us dollar bill.^[1]^[2] Beginning with the 2006 fall rating periond, three dollars began showing up with each survey diary.^[3] A new random sample is selected to participate each week. Arbitron's surveys are broken down into four key ratings periods, roughly corresponding with the seasons and bearing their names.^[4] The term commonly used in the radio industry for these quarterly ratings is Arbitron book, or more specifically, the Spring book, Fall book, etc. Arbitron also releases monthly information twice between the release of each book. These ratings, called Arbitrends are labeled Phase I and Phase II. The Arbitrends, despite being mid-term indicators, reflect the entire three-month block leading up to them.^[5] Arbitron surveys listener habits from six a.m. to midnight from Monday through Friday, 48 weeks per year. There is given a one week break following the Spring book, and an additional three weeks break following Fall book.^[6] Turnaround time for release of data from the end of the survey period is approximately three weeks.

After collection, the data are marketed to radio broadcasters, radio networks, cable companies, advertisers, advertising agencies, out-of-home advertising companies and the online radio industry.^[7] Major ratings products include cume (the cumulative number of unique listeners over a period), average quarter hour (AQH - the average number of people listening every 15 minutes), time spent listening, (TSL), and market breakdowns by demographic. Its important to understand that the CUME only counts a listener once, where as the AQH can count the same person multiple times, this is how to determine the TSL. For example, if you looked into a room and saw Fred and Jane, then 15 minutes later saw Fred with Sara. The Cume would be 3 (Fred, Jane, Sara) and the AQH would be 2. (an average of two people in the room in a given 15 minute period)

The seasonal books' 12+ ratings, a measurement of the overall number of people 12 and over listening to a particular station, are available as a free service for noncommercial use in most markets, except in cases where radio companies request an embargo. More detailed data, such as demographics and Arbitrends, are available on by paid subscription.

[edit] Portable People Meter

With the interest in the collection of more accurate ratings data, Arbitron has introduced the Portable People Meter (PPM). The PPM is a wearable portable device much like a pager or cell phone, that electronically records the listening behavior and history of a single panelist throughout the day for several months. The information is to be used in a new monthly ratings service soon to be introduced. The PPM service is currently in use in the Houston and Philadelphia markets, with a target for deployment in the "top ten" American markets within a few years.^[8]^[9]