PPM Trial for Mall Radio Network Demonstrates Viability of Portable Electronic Measurement of Audio Media in Shopping Malls
NEW YORK; Aug 7, 2007 – Arbitron Inc. (NYSE: ARB) today announced the results of a second Portable People Meter pilot test with Mall Radio Network. The pilot successfully demonstrated that the Arbitron PPM system could be used to track the amount of time shoppers are exposed to Mall Radio Network content and commercials while visiting a mall.
Arbitron encoded Mall Radio Network’s content and used PPM devices, carried by consumers, to detect exposure to audio content and commercials broadcast by Mall Radio Network in the common areas of malls. This study represents the second successful trial to detect encoded audio content broadcast within a mall environment and collect mall shopper exposure to that content.
“This pilot study is another step toward providing PPM measurement to Mall Radio Network as a part of the top 50 market rollout of the Portable People Meter,” said Bill Rose, senior vice president, Marketing, Arbitron Inc. “The audience data that would be generated by the Portable People Meter system would complement other data that Mall Radio Network is currently using to demonstrate the role of ‘malls as media’ to prospective advertisers such as mall shopper metrics from Scarborough Research. And when Mall Radio Network is fully integrated into the PPM system, their audience metrics would be designed to be comparable with the radio audience measures used by national and local advertisers.”
“Mall Radio Network is pleased to associate our medium with the Portable People Meter, a widely acclaimed and accepted measurement technology,” said Kathy Crowley, vice president, Sales, Mall Radio Network. “Arbitron's successful PPM test confirms that exposure to audio broadcast in malls can be tracked in the same fashion as exposure to terrestrial radio. Based on this study, and other supporting research information, we are confident that that PPM audience estimates for Mall Radio Network would be valid and reliable measures that can be used and accepted by national and local advertisers.”
Study results:
· The participants in the pilot study spent a considerable amount of time exposed to Mall Radio content in the mall common areas – 44% of their total time in the mall on average. Women respondents spent more time in the mall on average compared to men but spent a lower percentage of their time in the mall common areas.
· Virtually all of the survey participants (97 percent) heard the Mall Radio music in the common areas of the mall. Almost one-third of participants heard the advertising in the mall.
· The Mall Radio Network promotions or advertising played in the common areas appeared to have a strong influence on purchases made in the mall. Almost 50 percent of survey participants had ever made a purchase based on promotions or advertising played in the common areas.
· Overwhelmingly, the survey participants found the music playing in the common areas to be either just the right volume or slightly too low.
· The Mall Radio Network music made the shopping experience more enjoyable for a majority of survey participants
Since the study was designed both as a methods and technology trial, the results of the PPM survey conducted for Mall Radio Network are not projectable to the universe of mall visitors and are representative only of those surveyed.
About the Mall Radio PPM Pilot Study:
Arbitron encoded Mall Radio Network’s content (music and commercials) at the Sunrise Mall in Massapequa, NY. Once the mall was encoded, Arbitron performed several research and technical tests to confirm that the PPM technology was detecting the encoded material successfully.
For purposes of this Pilot Project, Arbitron recruited mall shoppers at two entrances at the Sunrise Mall during the study dates of April 20th and April 21st, 2007. Respondents asked to participate using a random interval, every nth shopper and was adjusted as necessary based on traffic flow and ensure that interviews were well distributed across the day.
Each participant was given a PPM meter when entering the mall and asked to carry the meter while they shop. The meters were returned to Arbitron staff prior to exiting the mall. When the meter was returned, the respondent was asked to complete a short survey. The recruitment process was conducted between 11 AM and 7 PM on the two study days. Over the course of the two-day Pilot Project, 126 shoppers participated in the study.
A previous trial, conducted at the Montgomery Mall in Bethesda, Maryland in September 2006, determined that the PPM system could detect encoded mall audio media in all parts of a mall environment including those that were anticipated to be more challenging, such as the food court and high ceiling areas.
About the Portable People Meter
The Arbitron Portable People Meter system uses a passive audience measurement device – about the size of a small cell phone – to track consumer exposure to media and entertainment, including broadcast, cable and satellite television; terrestrial, satellite and online radio as well as cinema advertising and many types of place-based electronic media. Carried throughout the day by randomly selected survey participants, the PPM device can track when and where they watch television, listen to radio as well as how they interact with other forms of media and entertainment.
In its current form, the PPM detects inaudible codes embedded in the audio portion of media and entertainment content delivered by broadcasters, content providers and distributors. The company is field testing an enhanced version of the meter that can also collect audio signatures for any radio station, which are later matched to signatures collected by an in-market monitoring system.
At the end of the day, the meter is placed in a docking station that extracts the codes and signatures and sends them to a central computer. The PPM is equipped with a motion sensor, a patented quality control feature unique to the system, which allows Arbitron to confirm the compliance of the PPM survey participants every day.
About Mall Radio Network
Mall Radio Network (MRN) is a media and music company with a national broadcast network in malls throughout the United States. Currently the company operates in 21 markets across the country, including 5 of the top 10 radio markets, MRN programs popular music, lifestyle and entertainment information and advertising, which can be heard in all mall concourse areas. The company reaches millions of consumers weekly, directly at the point of sale.
About Arbitron
Arbitron Inc. (NYSE: ARB) is an international media and marketing research firm serving radio broadcasters, cable companies, advertisers, advertising agencies and outdoor advertising companies in the United States and Europe. Arbitron’s core businesses are measuring network and local market radio audiences across the United States; surveying the retail, media and product patterns of local market consumers; and providing application software used for analyzing media audience and marketing information data. The Company has developed the Portable People Meter (PPM TM), a new technology for media and marketing research.
Arbitron’s marketing and business units are supported by its research and technology organization, located in Columbia, Maryland. Arbitron has approximately 1,900 employees; its executive offices are located in New York City.
Through its Scarborough Research joint venture with The Nielsen Company, Inc. (formerly VNU), Arbitron also provides media and marketing research services to the broadcast television, newspaper and online industries.
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Portable People Meter™ and PPM™ are service marks of Arbitron Inc.
