PPM Must Try Again on Accreditation

Arbitron has revealed that the Media Rating Council turned down accreditation of its PPM service in Philadelphia and New York, in January. However, the firm says it has made 'significant improvements' since the audits concerned, and an MRC statement also seems to offer encouragement for the PPM.

The disclosure came in Arbitron's 10-K filing dated February 28th, but the audits concerned were conducted in Fall 2006 (Philadelphia) and Summer 2007 in New York - new audits are already underway in both markets. The firm has MRC accreditation for one market where the PPM is live, Houston, and points out that according to MRC rules, a ratings service can continue development and rollout without accreditation.

Arbitron says it 'continues to believe' that the PPM ratings in Philadelphia are New York are 'valid and reliable' but that it has made significant improvements in both markets since November, when in response to pressure from clients, it announced a delay in the commercialization of its next nine markets, which include New York, LA and Chicago. In Philadelphia, the PPM has already provided the ratings currency for nearly a year.

Meanwhile a statement from the MRC says the body 'believes that electronic measurement such as Arbitron's PPM technology can represent an improvement over existing non-electronic audience measurements, and encourages Arbitron to continue in its extensive good faith efforts to achieve accreditation of the Philadelphia and New York Services.'

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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