PPM Insights

March Philadelphia and Houston Numbers

Back in the 1970s Inside Radio and Radio & Records began printing Arbitron 12+ share numbers. First twice a year and then four times a year, the rolling out of Arbitron ratings was an anxiously awaited event. When Arbitron switched to continuous ratings, the trades responded by publishing the monthly trends in addition to quarterly results.

A few years ago, Arbitron got into the act by adding 12+ shares to their web site. You can now look up any market and find a 12+ ranker. Click on Radio Ratings here. Well, actually you can't find all the markets. You can find Abilene to Youngstown, but you can't find Philadelphia or Houston. Apparently Arbitron's two PPM guinea pigs don't count any more. Perhaps Arbitron is uncomfortable including their two PPM markets in with all the diary rated markets.

Fortunately, the trades do not share Arbitron's reluctance to publish Philadelphia and Houston ratings. They continue to release monthly numbers along with most other markets. Like Arbitron, however, they seem to be reluctant to publish numbers comparable to the rest of the country's. Take a look at the latest Philadelphia and Houston PPM numbers as printed in Inside Radio and Radio and Records. Each publication has chosen to print completely different reports, neither of which are comparable to other markets. In the case of Inside Radio, they've chosen 6+ shares. In contrast, R&R prints 6+ cume persons. Why?

Inside Radio is followed by R&R:

Steve Morris Progress Report

Al Peterson's Aircheck reports that in a letter to clients Arbitron Chairman President/CEO Steve Morris reports significant progress in the PPM roll-out. As quoted by Peterson:

Although Morris reports "good progress" to date, he also acknowledges that "our PPM development efforts will never end." He also said that the company has "met or surpassed the benchmarks for the vast majority of important measures that our clients have told us are crucial to their confidence in PPM ratings currency." Among the highlights, Morris says Arbitron is consistently hitting its 6+ sample in New York (as well as in suburban Nassau-Suffolk and Middlesex-Somerset-Union), Los Angeles (and suburban Riverside-San Bernardino), Chicago, Houston and Philly. He also notes that the company is "exceeding our Persons 18-54 sample guarantees in all markets."