Arbitron announced the results of a second Portable People Meter pilot test with Mall Radio Network. The pilot demonstrated the Arbitron PPM system could be used to track the amount of time shoppers are exposed to Mall Radio Network content and commercials while visiting a mall. Arbitron encoded Mall Radio Network’s content and used PPM devices, carried by consumers, to detect exposure to audio content and commercials broadcast by Mall Radio Network in the common areas.
Said Bill Rose, Arbitron SVP/Marketing: “The audience data that would be generated by the Portable People Meter system would complement other data that Mall Radio Network is currently using to demonstrate the role of ‘malls as media’ to prospective advertisers such as mall shopper metrics from Scarborough Research. And when Mall Radio Network is fully integrated into the PPM system, their audience metrics would be designed to be comparable with the radio audience measures used by national and local advertisers.”
The participants in the pilot study spent a considerable amount of time exposed to Mall Radio content in the mall common areas – 44% of their total time in the mall on average. Women respondents spent more time in the mall on average compared to men but spent a lower percentage of their time in the mall common areas.
Virtually all of the survey participants (97%) heard the Mall Radio music in the common areas of the mall. Almost one-third of participants heard the advertising in the mall.
The Mall Radio Network promotions or advertising played in the common areas appeared to have a strong influence on purchases made in the mall. Almost 50 percent of survey participants had ever made a purchase based on promotions or advertising played in the common areas.
Since the study was designed both as a methods and technology trial, the results of the PPM survey conducted for Mall Radio Network are not projectable to the universe of mall visitors and are representative only of those surveyed.
Arbitron encoded Mall Radio Network’s content (music and commercials) at the Sunrise Mall in Massapequa, NY.
