Arbitron Says It’s Fixing PPM Panel Flaws
Arbitron is doing a better job recruiting panelists for its Portable People Meter panels, company officials said during a Thursday press briefing on the PPM’s status. Arbitron pushed back its rollout of the meters, which are to replace paper and pencil diaries, after radio industry clients complained it lacked enough young and ethnic participants (CD Nov 28 p8). Arbitron spent the last few months trying to lure younger participants into panels in Philadelphia and New York by increasing the money it pays them and asking more young people to join, said Jay Guyther, senior vice president of ratings services: “We're beginning to see that our focus on improving 18-24 year old participation is beginning to pay dividends.”
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Younger radio listeners are harder to enroll and keep in panels than their older counterparts because many don’t have land line phones and they're more apt to move out of a radio market, said Bob Patchen, chief research officer. Beyond stepping up recruitment efforts and incentives, Arbitron tweaked its panel management systems and became more flexible in the way it lets participants carry around and dress up the PPM devices, which look like pagers, he said. “We give them small attachments or purses or a lanyard or velcro packs,” he said. “And we also give them non-adhesive stickers so they can decorate the meter. That’s an important part of today’s mobile phone culture and it carries over to the PPM.”
Arbitron’s Houston PPM panel, running since mid-2004, is seeing far fewer recruitment and retention problems than panels in New York and Philadelphia, company officials said. “The number one variable has been time,” said Patchen. “Experience has shown that the longer we have to work on the panel, the better the demographics look over time.”
Arbitron now will turn its focus to recruiting panelists age 25-34, said Pierre Bouvard, president of sales and marketing. “All of the things that caused the massive increase in 18-24 will be able to impact 25-34,” he said. “I think over the first and second quarter you'll start to see similar growth.” The company also is refining the guarantees it makes to clients (CD Dec 6 p13). The progress has come without adding significant costs, Guyther said.