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Pre-Currency PPM Ratings Begin In New York
 NEW YORK -- September 21, 2007: After nine months of recruiting panelists, "We're ready to go," said Arbitron's Thom Mocarsky, opening Thursday's Arbitron presentation on the newly launched pre-currency Portable People Meter ratings.
PPM numbers will become currency with the December survey, covering November 15-December 12. That survey will be released on December 31, said Arbitron SVP/Ratings Services Jay Guyther, and it will, he noted, include ratings for the December 13-January 9, 2008 "holiday period" -- a time of year when Arbitron has historically never placed diaries.
Among 152 stations in the New York Metro -- which includes Nassau-Suffolk and Middlesex -- 104, covering 89.2 percent of the metro, have agreed to encode, Guyther reported, and 78 stations have the equipment installed and tested and are ready for reporting.
Looking at the panel build: Arbitron as of September 13 had 5,471 panelists in place for the New York metro, 106% of its goal of 5,170, and the markets within the metro are also all at better than 100 percent of goal. Guyther noted that the daily in-tab target for New York is 3,878, and, as of August 29, it was at 3,634, or 94 percent of goal. About 200 more panelists have been added since the end of August, and Guyther said, "We feel confident in saying we're starting the survey in New York at our in-tab goal."
As of August 29, the tough-to-reach 18-34 demo was indexing at just 61 percent in New York. But, in response to a reporter's question, Chief Research Officer Bob Patchen said New York is doing significantly better with 18-34s than the Philly test was at a similar point. He credited the better results to "substantial improvement" in special treatments for the demo, including upping the sampling rate for households with people in the 18-34 age group "to compensate for non-response at the front of the process."
Though he didn't give any dollar amounts, Patchen said the retention bonus paid to 18-34-year-old panelists at 90 days, 12 months, and 24 months has been doubled and represents "a substantial amount of money." And in Philadelphia and New York, Arbitron has also added a cash incentive for 18-34 cell-phone-only households that agree to install the landline the PPM requires.
During the Q&A with reporters, Patchen was asked about challenges in the New York metro compared to Philadelphia and Houston. "In general, New York went more smoothly than Philly," he said, "probably because it was the second market to come up with the 'radio first' sampling methodology" -- where prospective panelists are first contacted by phone and the PPM equipment is shipped for them to install.
Asked about Arbitron's plans for reaching Hispanic panelists when the PPM arrives in L.A., Patchen said, "When it comes to Hispanic populations within markets, they tend to be different around the country. These are things that we pay a lot of attention to, so it's hard to generalize."
But, he said, in New York, "cooperation has been quite good," with PPM carry times and in-tab in line with the general population. And so far in Los Angeles, he said, "Things look pretty good," though he cautioned that it's too early in the process to get a firm read on Hispanic recruitment.
During the call Guyther also updated the sample sizes for Philadelphia and Houston, where PPM ratings are already currency, and said, "We are making progress." Arbitron President/Sales & Marketing Pierre Bouvard mentioned Arbitron's commitment to get back to its in-tab goals in those markets by late September or early Ocober and said, "I feel very encouraged, based on September, week one. It looks like we're well on our way to getting back to target."
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