Arbitron Loses Accreditation in Five Markets

In the US, the Media Rating Council has withdrawn accreditation for Arbitron's monthly PPM-based AQH radio ratings data in five markets. The reverse means Arbitron now has just nine local markets accredited out of a total of 48.

The five losing their MRC status are Cleveland, Portland OR, Riverside-San Bernardino, Salt Lake City-Ogden-Provo, and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater. The nine which remain accredited are Atlanta, Cincinnati, Houston (DMA), Kansas City, Milwaukee-Racine, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and St. Louis. The remaining 34 PPM markets remain unaccredited.

After a long period of controversy, the PPM seemed to have entered calmer waters over the last year or two, notably since the arrival of CEO Bill Kerr, and Arbitron itself enjoyed a successful year in 2011. The MRC awarded accreditation to eleven markets in March last year bringing the total to fourteen, the high point thus far.

Established in 1964, the MRC represents television, radio, print and Internet media, advertisers, ad agencies and trade associations and aims to ensure measurement services are valid, reliable and effective - it currently audits around seventy research products.

Gregg Lindner, Arbitron's EVP, Service Innovation and Chief Research Officer, comments: 'Consistent with our long-standing priorities, we will work to retain accreditation where we have it, to regain accreditation where it was withdrawn and to achieve accreditation in our remaining PPM markets. As always, we will continue our work with the MRC in order to address their concerns.' The firm plans to have all 48 PPM markets undergo new MRC audits in 2012.

Web sites: www.mediaratingcouncil.org and www.arbitron.com .