Abstract:

Arbitron's Portable People Meter (PPM) results provide 'real' cross-media duplication between radio and television. PPM differs from present currency-based estimation of random duplication between independent sources for local-market radio and television. This investigation, employing a variety of schedule variations for a variety of demographics, finds that random estimation generally overstates PPM's unified radio and television capture. Results show variations by target demo as well as by the scope of the plan itself. As PPM measurement is deployed beyond Philadelphia, its passive capture of cross-media flow promises a better basis for estimating the value of media-mix schedules.