Abstract:

Arbitron's Portable People Meters (PPM) capture considerably more granularity of consumer listening behavior than the diary method, according to recent PPM results from Philadelphia. Though both methods yield similar overall quarter-hours, PPM picks up twice the station mentions and three times the discrete episodes of listening as the diary. The bottom line result for stations is a new PPM balance among station mentions, discrete listening episodes, and per-station time-spent-listening. This investigation demonstrates PPM's contributions to understanding the fragmented behavior of 21st century listeners as well as added insights to help 'value' station audience for sellers and buyers.