Say hello to the People Meter

[davideduardo]

All the trades have e mailed an urgent bulletin like this from All Access...

Arbitron PPM Receives MRC Accreditation In Houston

ARBITRON announced today (1/29) that the MEDIA RATING COUNCIL (MRC) has accredited the PORTABLE PEOPLE METER (PPM) in HOUSTON.

Arbitron, in a subscriber mail, says they are consulting with station management about the date when the PPM becomes currency. I'd love to be a fly on the wall when they call on Bob Neil.

 

[trifecta123]

David help me out here. I don't quite understand the PPM.

"Portable People Meter, which is worn by a consumer to detect and record the inaudible codes in the programming that the consumer is exposed to;" http://www.arbitron.com/portable_people_meters/home.htm

In the above it says "inaudible codes in the programming that the consumer is exposed to." I understand the encoding of the data and being exposed to it, but how does that monitor what channel you are tuned into?

 

[davideduardo]

David help me out here. I don't quite understand the PPM.

"Portable People Meter, which is worn by a consumer to detect and record the inaudible codes in the programming that the consumer is exposed to;" http://www.arbitron.com/portable_people_meters/home.htm

In the above it says "inaudible codes in the programming that the consumer is exposed to." I understand the encoding of the data and being exposed to it, but how does that monitor what channel you are tuned into?

Each station has a piece of equipment provided by Arbitron, which inserts the masked code multiple times a minute. The PPM "listens" via a microphone that has approximately the same sensitivity of the human ear, and extracts the code and saves it to memory in a code string that has the station code and a time stamp. The meter, when docked, feeds the data to Arbitron, which tabulates it. The code identifies the station and only one station in the entire country, and the amount of detections and times determine how long the station was listened to.

 

[trifecta123]

David help me out here. I don't quite understand the PPM.

"Portable People Meter, which is worn by a consumer to detect and record the inaudible codes in the programming that the consumer is exposed to;" http://www.arbitron.com/portable_people_meters/home.htm

In the above it says "inaudible codes in the programming that the consumer is exposed to." I understand the encoding of the data and being exposed to it, but how does that monitor what channel you are tuned into?

Each station has a piece of equipment provided by Arbitron, which inserts the masked code multiple times a minute. The PPM "listens" via a microphone that has approximately the same sensitivity of the human ear, and extracts the code and saves it to memory in a code string that has the station code and a time stamp. The meter, when docked, feeds the data to Arbitron, which tabulates it. The code identifies the station and only one station in the entire country, and the amount of detections and times determine how long the station was listened to.

Okay! I got it! It's not the incoming signal to the radio receiver that the PPM picks up but rather in the out going sound that has the encoded signal that is picked up by the PPM. That's pretty clever and should be interesting.

Looking at some PPM numbers I'd say there are going to be some real surprises. For one, the ARROW (KKRW) seems to be much better than the diaries suggest and the new Gospel station KROI is doing pretty well too. (Or am I reading the following incorrectly?)

RADIO AUDIENCE ESTIMATES:
http://www.arbitron.com/portable_people_meters/thelatest.htm

 

[davideduardo]

Looking at some PPM numbers I'd say there are going to be some real surprises. For one, the ARROW (KKRW) seems to be much better than the diaries suggest and the new Gospel station KROI is doing pretty well too. (Or am I reading the following incorrectly?)

RADIO AUDIENCE ESTIMATES:
http://www.arbitron.com/portable_people_meters/thelatest.htm

You might also look at KOVE, especially in the 25-54 tables at that link, which is the PPM leader in 25-54 all day and in Mornings among Spanish langauge stations.

 

[trifecta123]

You might also look at KOVE, especially in the 25-54 tables at that link, which is the PPM leader in 25-54 all day and in Mornings among Spanish langauge stations.

Sure enough, they have a strong showing. And for the KRBE vs KHMX warriors in here... it looks like KHMX is beating the pants off of KRBE in the 25 - 54 demo and KRBE is beating the pants off of KHMX in the 18 - 34 demo.