Effect of PPM rating system in Houston?

[LasVegasRadioJunky]

Presidential candidate Barack Obama and Dick Durbin, both Democratic senators from Illinois, have sent Arbitron president/CEO Steve Morris a letter expressing their concerns over the company's plans to continue rolling out PPM without Media Research Council accreditation and have requested that implementation be delayed until the MRC gives it the thumbs-up. While the duo acknowledge that a "properly implemented PPM system is more accurate" than Arbitron's diary, Obama and Durbin say that the lack of MRC accreditation leads them to "only conclude that it does not accurately reflect the behavior of all consumers, including minorities."

 

[stan]

Presidential candidate Barack Obama and Dick Durbin, both Democratic senators from Illinois, have sent Arbitron president/CEO Steve Morris a letter expressing their concerns over the company's plans to continue rolling out PPM without Media Research Council accreditation and have requested that implementation be delayed until the MRC gives it the thumbs-up. While the duo acknowledge that a "properly implemented PPM system is more accurate" than Arbitron's diary, Obama and Durbin say that the lack of MRC accreditation leads them to "only conclude that it does not accurately reflect the behavior of all consumers, including minorities."

What a load of crap. Some people just can't stand the reality that PPM brings - that maybe their stations aren't as valuable (or listened to) as they thought.

 

[Kabrich]

Presidential candidate Barack Obama and Dick Durbin, both Democratic senators from Illinois, have sent Arbitron president/CEO Steve Morris a letter expressing their concerns over the company's plans to continue rolling out PPM without Media Research Council accreditation and have requested that implementation be delayed until the MRC gives it the thumbs-up. While the duo acknowledge that a "properly implemented PPM system is more accurate" than Arbitron's diary, Obama and Durbin say that the lack of MRC accreditation leads them to "only conclude that it does not accurately reflect the behavior of all consumers, including minorities."

What a load of crap. Some people just can't stand the reality that PPM brings - that maybe their stations aren't as valuable (or listened to) as they thought.

Hard to call it crap until you get a proper sample so you can see what reality is.

Considering that Women 25-34 had their lowest DDI numbers in the week just before suspension and the Women 25-34 sample size was the 3rd lowest in the 18 months of PPM, does this sound like a proper sample to you?

Furthermore the SPI for Houston has dropped over 25% since MRC certified Houston. The MRC said last week at NABOB that they are alarmed by the SPI number - translation, Houston might be loosing the MRC Accrediation again - and that simply means its not statistically good reasearch.

 

[LasVegasRadioJunky]

I have never shot a bullet towards Arbitron, but.....

Obama's decision to take time during the race to fire at PPM...

NY Attorney General's has loaded his muzzle...

And then there are the three recent "diary issues" and the reissued ARB's in the last few months. I've been in the industry for almost 30 years and don't remember three other instances of instances like these.

I am starting to think I have more interest in Cumulus' plan for a new system.

 

[davideduardo]

What a load of crap. Some people just can't stand the reality that PPM brings - that maybe their stations aren't as valuable (or listened to) as they thought.

The reality is that the sample is not proportional on every stratification value. The whole idea of a panel is that it will mirror in near exact proportion every cell (age, gender, ethnicity, geography, language preference, etc.) in the total market because the respondents do not change every 7 days.

Kabrich has noted the deficiencies in certain cells... the Hispanic female and Hispanic Spanish dominant female cells are even further off.

Panels are not supposed to be "fixed" by weighting. They are supposed to be balanced within a few percent and inherently proportional.

To even get MRC accreditation in Houston, Arbiton used a sample frame procedure (address based) and recruit procedure (half done in home, not by phone) that they use nowhere else for PPM. Even now, they can not get a sample that is the right size in each cell. Instead, they show "great progress" total 6+ and 12+ samples, while the key sales demos are nowhere nearly as "great."

In addition, when you compare the number of days of carriage of the meter to the number of days with listening in a diary, you also see some compliance issues. Don't even get me started on how 80's-pager-ugly the meter is, even with the supposedly "hip" skins and cases. For women, it is a leap of faith to assume the meter can and will always be carried. Radio loses lots of listening due to this... most people don't move while watching metered TV, but radio requires a meter that is much smaller, "cuter" and easier to attach to clothing.

Of course, the PPM means considerable new revenue to Arbitron. And keep in mind that advertisers supported electronic measurement because the data is more timely (faster delivery) and it permits posting... neither which issues have any relationship with the accuracy or lack of same of the system.