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...
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