Arbitron Unveils Out-of-Home Service

US ratings giant Arbitron has launched a new suite of measurement services, designed to improve visibility into 'away-from-home' TV audiences.

The new ARB-TV cross-platform analytical solution uses the firm's Portable People Measurement (PPM) technology to provide a more comprehensive picture of a media customer's total audience.

ARB-TV is likely to be employed in markets where Arbitron uses the PPM to measure radio audiences. The company has plans to roll out the PPM to the top 50 markets by the end of 2010.

'In today's increasingly mobile world, media companies and marketers want to know when and where consumers are being exposed to their content,' said EVP Alton Adams. 'The ARB-TV suite helps quantify audience viewership in locations outside of the home including, among others, restaurants/bars, other homes, the workplace, airports, hotels, sports venues, malls and medical facilities.'

Adams joined the firm in March, to develop new solutions that use the PPM platform to integrate measures of multiple media, including radio, cinema, out-of -home and the three-screen markets of TV, wireless and the Internet.

Nielsen and partner IMMI recently shelved their own out-of-home TV viewing measurement service; blaming the decision on difficult economic times.

Web site: www.arbitron.com .