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Buoyant Arbitron Continues Rise
Radio ratings giant Arbitron has reported a 5.1% increase in Q1 revenue to $111.8m, compared with $106.4m in the prior year period. Earnings are slightly down - Q1 EBITDA was to $34.7m vs $36.6m a year earlier - due the firm says to the costs associated with the planned Nielsen merger.
 EBITDA for the quarter would have increased to $37.9m but for $3.2m of merger-related consulting, legal and other expenses, Arbitron said. The potential acquisition, which was first announced in December, is currently being reviewed by The Federal Trade Commission.
Arbitron's net income for the first quarter was $16.3m, compared with $17.8m for the first quarter of 2012. Including the Nielsen-related expenses, overall, costs and expenses were up 8.3% to $81.4m - this also reflects planned investments in Arbitron Mobile panels, costs associated with address-based sampling, in-person recruiting, and cell-phone household recruiting.
President and CEO Sean Creamer comments: 'In the first quarter, we continued to pursue our long-standing objectives: maintaining our investments in the quality of our radio ratings services, growing our core revenue, and entering new markets such as digital radio, cross-platform, and mobile. We continue working to leverage our investment in the PPM technology and consumer panels utilizing our platform in new initiatives such as advertising and promotion effectiveness studies, while enhancing our measurement capabilities for radio and across platforms.'
Web site: www.arbitron.com .
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