Missteps, computer gaffs, and recruitment problems continue to plague PPM's roll-out. The latest problem is the disappearance of nearly 200 Houston panelists in the July 26 weekly. And to add to the embarrassment, apparently clients had to bring the problem to Arbitron's attention. Cox Radio CEO Bob Neil noted that Arbitron, "released the data without even looking at the sample and noticing something is wrong."
Arbitron announced that they had recruited 89% of New York's PPM panelists. Arbitron is shooting for 5,170 panelists in the DMA. Demonstration begins in October and the numbers get real beginning in January.
As reported by Inside Radio, CEO Steve Morris says Arbitron is on "a continuous learning curve" explaining "research like this is not a perfect science and we do have to adjust as we go along."
Morris was trying to explain why Arbitron is failing to hit its in-tab targets in Houston and Philadelphia. Since Arbitron has chronically missed its diary targets, the company should be very familiar with the problem. In addition, during PPM's roll-out a great deal was made of the differences between PPM's panels and diary participants. We were told that with panels it would be much easier to maintain Arbitron's in-tab targets. Guess not.
When Media Audit/Ipsos announced the development of their Smart Phone device to measure radio listening, Arbitron dismissed their announcement derisively declaring that, "If all you’ve got is a gizmo, you’ve got a long way to go." The line became the title of an article on the Arbitron website by David Lapovsky who wrote, "Its not the electronics of a metering device alone, but the whole system that surrounds the metering device that determines the usefulness of the audience estimates it collects." Truer words were never spoken.
The success of Arbitron's PPM, the Media Audit/Ipsos Smart Phone, or some yet undiscovered method will rest on not only "the gizmo," but everything else that surrounds the metering device. InSights was created to examine radio's leap into electronic measurement, developments in this rapidly evolving technology, and its impact on radio.
