…pointing out to journalists that they had overlooked the good news from Friday’s Portable People Meter update while focusing their stories on the Media Rating Council rejecting accreditation for PPM in Philadelphia and New York. Stories such as this one from RBR/TVBR.
“Look at the progress in four months on these metrics,” Bouvard said of the progress that has been made on 18-34 demo stats since Arbitron received a letter in November from the heads of four of the largest radio groups demanding action on in-tab underperformance by the key demo (11/16/07 RBR #225). Bouvard noted that New York and Philadelphia have already surpassed the 70% DDI benchmark (which moves to 80% next year) nearly 12 months before the date that Arbitron had promised to the Radio Advisory Council. Bouvard credits “seismic 18-24 improvement.” He said 2007 was the year of 18-24 and the company is now working to use the same participation improvement efforts to boost 25-34 in 2008.
Meanwhile, Bouvard says the next markets where PPM is being deployed – Los Angeles, Chicago and Riverside-San Bernardino – are looking as good as New York and Philly already on hitting demo benchmarks. According to Bouvard, though, the ratings are accurate everywhere that PPM has been deployed. Hitting the benchmarks just adds credibility. “The message for programmer is that the ratings are not going to go up, but your confidence will,” he concluded.
