Cox CEO Rails at PPM

Arbitron's Portable People Meter (PPM) rating service has come in for fierce criticism from Bob Neil, President and CEO of Cox Radio, during his firm's third quarter conference call.

Describing how agencies have responded to the PPM methodology, Neil said he believed that the poor sampling in Houston and Philadelphia (www.mrweb.com/drno/news7282.htm ) has shaken the users' confidence in the data. 'If I was an agency person, I certainly would question the reliability of that kind of data. I find it disingenuous of them to defend sampling that is in the 50%-60% indexing range by saying it's still accurate,' he added.

The firm's revenues were down 1% in the third quarter compared with the same period last year, and as a result, net income fell 16%. While Neil said these results were in line with the general radio markets, he implied that revenues are being negatively affected by PPM, saying that the ratings are deeply flawed.

He also accused Arbitron of having a monopoly in the radio audience measurement arena: 'There's no real competition in the marketplace, so they behave as a monopolist. I wish you could sit down and have a lucid conversation about it, and get them to do what they need to do, but they won't.'

Commenting on future PPM rollouts Neil concluded that if New York and Los Angeles start coming in with 18-24 indexing at 50% of the target sample, this will not bode well for Arbitron, the radio industry, or advertisers relying on that data.

Cox has been a vocal critic of the PPM for some time, and is one of five radio groups supporting the test of a rival ratings methodology using the Ipsos/Media Audit smart cell-phone (www.mrweb.com/drno/news6833.htm ).

Earlier this week the PPM was chosen as one of TIME Magazine's 'Best Inventions of 2007' (www.mrweb.com/drno/news7536.htm ) - that may be viewed as ironic if the problems highlighted by Neil can't be addressed. Alternatively Arbitron's execs may look back on them as teething troubles - we know what 'they all' did when Edison recorded sound. Watch DRNO for developments.

Web site: www.arbitron.com.

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

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