Clear Channel Signs for PPM At Last

Following open criticism of the cost and viability of Arbitron's Portable People Meter (PPM) technology, Clear Channel Radio has finally signed a multi-year deal to use the PPM ratings to track its listener habits.

The radio giant had already agreed to trial the system in six of its stations in Philadelphia (www.mrweb.com/drno/news6534.htm ) – but this earlier deal had more of an air of pragmatism about it, coming very close to a deadline which if missed would have caused some serious headaches for the industry. Clear Channel's size – it operates almost 1,200 stations - meant that its refusal to participate in PPM would have lowered the value of the ratings, leaving media buyers no accurate basis of comparison within or across markets.

The technology, which detects inaudible signals embedded in radio and television broadcasts to measure a listener's exposure to media, costs radio firms 40% - 65% more than the traditional hand-written diary system, which dates back to 1965. While Clear Channel has agreed to use PPM, the firm stresses that it will continue to evaluate new measurement methods.

At one stage, Clear Channel's opposition seemed to pose the most serious threat to the PPM: now analysts have started talking in terms of dominoes falling, both in the US and worldwide. Yesterday the Danish radio industry announced that it will be adopting the system under licence from TNS (www.mrweb.com/drno/news6959.htm ) and last month Cox Radio in the US signed a five-year renewal contract with Arbitron (www.mrweb.com/drno/news6833.htm ).

Following this latest news, Arbitron's stock moved to a 52-week high on Monday, with the firm's shares gaining $2.86, or 5.7%, to $52.87 in afternoon trading.

Web sites are at www.arbitron.com and www.clearchannel.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

• Arbitron Inc.
• All news