Four markets will get Portable People Meter (PPM) ratings sooner and five later under adjustments that Arbitron announced yesterday to its PPM roll-out schedule. Sooner: Kansas City, San Antonio, Salt Lake City and Las Vegas. Later: Milwaukee, Charlotte, Columbus, Providence and Orlando. “We are rebalancing our PPM commercialization schedule in order to create financial and operational efficiencies,” said as it reported the changes in its latest SEC filing. It also noted that expenses related to PPM litigation and dealings with government entities have been "substantial."
Here are the PPM changes from Arbitron:
Four markets – Kansas City, San Antonio, Salt Lake City and Las Vegas – are now scheduled to commercialize with the December 2009 PPM survey report (November 12 to December 9), currently slated for release on December 31, 2009. Previously, these four markets were slated to commercialize with the release of the March 2010 PPM survey report. The final diary-based audience survey in these four markets will be the Summer 2009 survey (June 25 – September 16).
Five markets – Milwaukee, Charlotte, Columbus, Providence and Orlando – are now scheduled to commercialize with the release of the September 2010 PPM survey report in October. Previously, these five markets were scheduled to commercialize with the release of the June 2010 PPM survey report. The final diary-based audience report in these four markets will now be for the Spring 2010 survey (April 1 – June 23.)
Click for the full PPM roll-out schedule, as amended.
Yesterday’s SEC filing also provided the latest on Arbitron’s efforts to have PPM accredited in markets besides Houston by the Media Rating Council (MRC): “During the first quarter of 2008, the MRC decided to deny accreditation of the Philadelphia and New York local market PPM services based on audits completed in both markets in 2007, the review of the audit findings and additional information provided to the MRC PPM audit subcommittee. As part of the accreditation process, we agreed to new audits of the Philadelphia and New York local market PPM services. These audits were completed in the first half of 2008, and the audit report was presented to the MRC audit committee. The audit of the PPM services for the Los Angeles, Chicago, Riverside-San Bernardino, Chicago, San Francisco, and San Jose markets has also been completed. The MRC accreditation status in both Philadelphia and New York is unchanged at this time; the denial status remains in effect as the accreditation process continues.”
