CEOS BASH ARBITRON Paul Heine – Billboard Radio CEOs took turns lobbing shots at Arbitron during a group heads “super session” at the National Assn. of Broadcasters radio show here Thursday afternoon (Sep. 22). Yet some observers suggest the barbs are borne more out of the 65% price hike Arbitron plans to implement for its portable people meter service than anything else.
Clear Channel Radio CEO John Hogan got the volley rolling with the question, “Has it only been 15 years since Arbitron started developing the purple people meter?”
Joel Hollander kept the ball in the air, saying he would wait for the right ratings system. Rather than shouldering a large rate increase only to discover problems 2-3 years down the road, Infinity has a “wait and see attitude,” Hollander said.
And the hits just kept on coming. “The world has changed. Arbitron has not,” Saga president/CEO Ed Christian said. “We can’t wait.” Christian said he doesn’t care whose ratings system is implemented as long as it is accurate, reliable and efficient.
Hogan said proposals he has solicited for a new high-tech ratings system are due in December, after which he’ll form a group of broadcasters to review them. With today’s technology, Hogan said the process of launching a new ratings system is a “much shorter time frame” than the 3-5 years some have suggested it would take to start a new system from scratch.
“They never got the diary right,” ICBC president and CEO Charles Warfield added, expressing reluctance to pay more for something new from Arbitron. |