CLEAR CHANNEL SIGNS FOR PPM Katy Bachman – Mediaweek Bowing to the inevitable, Clear Channel has reportedly signed a multi-year contract with Arbitron for the portable people meter ratings service in all the PPM markets where CC owns stations. The San Antonio-based radio group already signed for the PPM ratings service in Philadelphia, where the PPM has been the ratings currency since March. Houston, the second market on Arbitron’s roll out schedule, goes live with the PPM mid-July.
Arbitron declined to comment on “ongoing negotiations.”
Prior to CC, Arbitron had signed stations representing less than 40 percent of the revenue in the top 50 markets. With CC, Arbitron has now signed stations representing nearly two-thirds of the revenue in the top 50 markets.
Support of the PPM from the nation’s largest radio group represents a landmark event for the radio industry and for Arbitron, which plans to roll out electronic measurement to the nation’s top 50 markets by the end of 2010.
For years, the radio industry seemed content with ratings based on the antiquated diary used to measure radio audience since 1965. At a time when other media are using electronic measurement tools, radio seemed stuck in the past.
With the PPM, the radio industry will have more frequent and more accurate data. Instead of waiting for quarterly ratings, the industry will now be able to conduct business with weekly and monthly estimates.
It was only a matter of time before CC signed for the PPM, despite the company’s long-time resistance to the PPM and its 65 percent rate hike. For two years, a CC-led committee worked with other radio groups to find an alternative to Arbitron.
Earlier this year, CC, along with Cox Radio, Cumulus Media, Entercom Communications and Radio One, agreed to fund a test in Houston this fall of The Media Audit/Ipsos’ smart cell-phone based ratings methodology. While Cox and other groups remain committed to the test, TMA/Ipsos’ solution could be several years away.
The first indication of a break in the industry logjam came last month when Cox, one of the most vocal critics of the PPM, signed for the PPM in all of its markets. At that time, many observers believed it was game over, and the rest of the radio industry would sign for the service and make the long-awaited transition to electronic measurement. |