… Agreement includes 41 stations in 14 PPM markets, including newly acquired ABC stations
Arbitron Inc. (NYSE: ARB) today announced that Citadel Broadcasting Corporation (NYSE: CDL), the third largest radio group in the United States, has signed a seven-year contract for Portable People Meter radio ratings services when the new audience ratings technology is commercialized in 14 of the markets encompassed in Arbitron’s previously announced PPM rollout plan: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas, Washington, Detroit, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Salt Lake City, Providence, Nashville, New Orleans and Memphis.
The agreement covers 41 stations, including the 22 ABC Radio stations Citadel recently acquired.
“We believe that the PPM will significantly enhance radio’s accountability and reach, ultimately resulting in increased commitments to radio by advertisers,”said Farid Suleman, Citadel’s Chief Executive Officer.
Over the next three years, Arbitron is scheduled to deploy the Portable People Meter in the top 50 markets in place of the paper diary method that the company has used to collect radio audience estimates since 1965.
