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The PPM News Blog is maintained by ROI Media Solutions in Los Angeles... [ MORE ]

Looks like the PR war has begun...

It looks like the PR machine is starting to scale up about the "non-encoders" in advance of PPM "currency" in Philadelphia.  Kinda gives new meaning to "full court press."  Some examples from today...

MediaWeek: Agencies Mull Boycott of Unencoded PPM Philly Stations

Arbitron is only two weeks from flipping the switch on its portable people meter service in Philadelphia, but it may be off to a rocky start already. Two radio groups, Clear Channel (six stations) and Radio One (three stations), representing more than a quarter of the market's radio billings, are not encoding. If the nine stations are not encoding by Jan. 11, those stations will not be included in the ratings and could risk losing millions of dollars in national spot revenue.

Not only is CARAT intending to leave those stations out of its buys, it may also be forced to boycott the entire market. “Stations must compete using this currency or there is no currency to use for negotiation,” said Mary Barnas, executive vp and director of local broadcast for CARAT, a strong supporter of PPM. “If we cannot buy an effective schedule due to lack of proper ratings data, we will recommend against buying the market. We will only consider stations using PPM.”  [ MORE ]

AllAccess.com: Clear Channel, Radio One PPM Encoding Holdouts In Philly

... That leaves a lot of questions, in terms of how ARBITRON will address the issues in terms of data rollout, and whether this decision by CLEAR CHANNEL and RADIO ONE will affect how advertising agency buys for their clusters.

While ARBITRON VP/Communications THOM MOCARSKY declined comment specifically about CLEAR CHANNEL and RADIO ONE, he assured ALL ACCESS, "We will have more to say on this matter as we get closer to the launch date of the Phllly 'demonstration' period on JANUARY 11."  [ MORE ]

Radio Business Reports:  Agencies may boycott PPM boycotters

See story below that was noted earlier today...

RBR: Agencies may boycott PPM boycotters

From this morning's Radio Business Report:

Arbitron is just weeks away from going live with PPM ratings in Philadelphia, but a reliable source in the market tells RBR that neither Clear Channel nor Radio One stations are encoding. That's 37.5% of the market's billings. We also heard, but couldn't confirm, that Carat told Arbitron they are not going to buy any stations that are not encoded. If there were several agencies doing that, it would put enormous pressure on the radio companies to encode.  [ MORE at RBR ]

RBR observation: Why are CC and Radio One inflicting wounds on their own industry? The reasons for Clear Channel's not encoding: Now that they're going private, they don't need to bow to Wall Street pressure, so they can afford to ... [ MORE at RBR ]

Radio Ink: Unlocking They Mystery Of "Phantom Cume"

"For years, we have known there is "phantom cume" to be unlocked," Arbitron VP/PPM Sales John Snyder said yesterday, noting the long-held belief that the diary ratings system fell short when it came to recording listeners' total cume listening. Speaking at Arbitron's annual Consultant's Fly-In, Snyder said that while format is a major driver of which stations exhibit higher cume levels, its also becoming clear that most of the cume is coming from casual listeners.  [ MORE ]

Radio Ink: Arbitron Debuts Electronic Spot Confirmation System

Arbitron is enhancing the RADAR network radio service with the introduction of what they say will be an improved Spot Confirmation service, an electronic version of Arbitron’s radio network ratings commercial affidavit verification system.

More at Radio Ink  ...  Link to Arbitron Press Release

PVRWire: Minute by Minute Ratings for TV

Nielsen to launch commercial ratings

After several false starts, it looks like Nielsen is finally getting ready to roll out minute-by-minute ratings data in April, including, for the first time, commercial ratings.

Apparently network execs aren't thrilled with the April 24th date set by Nielsen, because it doesn't give them much time to analyze the data before the May upfront period. That's when they announce shows fro the upcoming season and begin negotiations for commercial rates.

B&C: English Speaking Hispanics More Mobile Viewers than Spanish Speakers

If the Latin Grammys are any indication, English-speaking Hispanics are more mobile TV viewers than their Spanish-speaking counterparts.  According to Arbitron's test of Portable People Meters in 10th-largest-market Houston, out-of-home viewing by the Spanish-speaking 18-49 audience was 17.2%, still above the average, while it was 24.3% for primarily English-speaking Hispanic viewers.  [ MORE ]

MarketingDaily: Nielsen In-Store Will Measure Retail Media

VNU AND THE IN-STORE MARKETING Institute announced yesterday that they will form Nielsen In-Store, designed to measure how customers react to point-of-purchase media, including television and radio, shelf talkers, and digital signage.

The new service will build on P.R.I.S.M. (Pioneering Research for an In-Store Metric), a research effort led by the In-Store Marketing Institute early this year in conjunction with marketers 3M, Coca-Cola, Kellogg, Miller Brewing, Procter & Gamble and The Walt Disney Company, as well as retailers Albertsons, Kroger, Walgreens and Wal-Mart.

[ MORE ]