Arbitron's sampling methodologyisFARmoreimportantthanMrorMrsDePetro's misdeeds

[Sid Schweiger]

>>The biggest complaint with the PPM thus far is that certain groups
are under-represented in the results, particularly persons 18-34 and
minorities.  This was the case in Philadelphia and in New York, where
ratings for AC and oldies stations soared in the PPM while Urbans,
CHR's and Spanish stations plunged in relation to the diary.  As time
has gone on and the troublesome cell targets have been properly
populated, the data looks much better, albeit not perfect.<<

One theory of why this is:  AC and oldies stations are often used in offices as background music, but are not normally reported in diaries because listeners tend to not recall that they heard those stations in the offices.  Hard to prove, of course, but that's one possibility.

>>keep in mind that eventually PPM ratings will include non-comms and satellite
radio stations.<<

Where non-coms are concerned:  Not "eventually."  Immediately.  The non-coms are being supplied with the same encoding and monitoring equipment as the commercial stations.  Let's also remember that non-coms were always part of the diary-based ratings system and their numbers were available in the Maximi$er and Tapscan software.  AFAIK Sirius and XM haven't started encoding yet, but it's only a matter of time.  PPM encoding also includes HD secondaries and Internet streaming, and all of that listening will be broken out separately in the data.

Sid Schweiger
IT Manager, Entercom New England
WAAF/WEEI/WEEI-FM/WKAF/WMKK/WRKO/WVEI/WVEI-FM
20 Guest St / 3d Floor
Brighton MA  02135-2040