Arbitron Responds to GAO Inquiry of PPM

COLUMBIA, Md.; July 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Arbitron Inc. (NYSE:ARB) has released the following statement

  "According to the website of the U.S. House of Representatives
  Committee on the Judiciary, a group of ten members of Congress have
  requested that the Government Accountability Office study the
  Arbitron Portable People Meter(TM) and its "effect on advertising
  revenue streams for radio stations."  Arbitron is and will continue
  to monitor the situation.

  "As always, Arbitron welcomes every opportunity to discuss the PPM
  technology, service and our sampling methodology. We continue to
  have a dialogue with key members of Congress as well as other
  interested parties, and look forward to helping the radio industry
  as a whole remain competitive in the current media marketplace."


The PPM radio audience estimates are currently used as the basis for buy/sell transactions of radio commercial time among subscribing stations, agencies and advertisers in 20 major U.S. markets.

About the Portable People Meter

The Arbitron Portable People Meter system uses a passive audience measurement device - about the size of a small cell phone - to track consumer exposure to media and entertainment, including broadcast, cable and satellite television; terrestrial, satellite and online radio as well as cinema advertising and many types of place-based electronic media. Carried throughout the day by randomly selected survey participants, the PPM device can track when and where they watch television, listen to radio as well as how they interact with other forms of media and entertainment.

The PPM detects inaudible codes embedded in the audio portion of media and entertainment content delivered by broadcasters, content providers and distributors. At the end of the day, the meter is placed in a docking station that extracts the codes and sends them to a central computer. The PPM is equipped with a motion sensor, a patented quality control feature unique to the system, which allows Arbitron to confirm the compliance of the PPM survey participants every day.

About Arbitron

Arbitron Inc. (NYSE:ARB) is a media and marketing research firm serving the media - radio, television, cable, online radio and out-of-home - as well as advertisers and advertising agencies. Arbitron's core businesses are measuring network and local market radio audiences across the United States; surveying the retail, media and product patterns of local market consumers; and providing application software used for analyzing media audience and marketing information data. The company has developed the Portable People Meter, a new technology for media and marketing research.

Portable People Meter(TM) and PPM(TM) are marks of Arbitron Inc. 

DATASOURCE: Arbitron Inc.



CONTACT:  Jessica Benbow, Arbitron Inc., [phone],





Web Site:  http://www.arbitron.com/ 

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