Abstract:

The large-scale evaluation of the portable people meter (PPM), consisting of a panel of 1,500 consumers age 6+ equipped with portable meters in Philadelphia, has passed the one-year mark. It is now clear that media outlets will encode their signals to enable the PPM to automatically detect audience exposure, and that the encoding/decoding technology works as planned. Currently, nearly 90 media outlets are encoding their signals for the Philadelphia market trial. The panelist compliance results also show that consumers will continue to wear the PPM over time, without evidence of fatigue. The attention of media researchers is now turning to the more practical questions of 'Do the ratings make sense?' and 'How will they help my business?' This paper compares and contrasts the PPM ratings data to the results from the existing radio diary and television meter-diary methodologies in Philadelphia. The findings appear logical and highlight the specific advantages the PPM system offers for better understanding actual audience behaviors.