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Arbitron CEO Bill Kerr told a Credit Suisse investor conference on Monday that he will be meeting with House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Edolphus Towns (D-NY) later this week to discuss PPM. Earlier this month, Arbitron announced enhancements to PPM to help better achieve MRC accreditation quickly.

"We have been in very active dialog with both the MRC and with the members of the [PPM] Coalition. I am hopeful that we have a game plan and a timetable which seems to make sense for all parties that will enhance our ability to achieve the accreditation that we're looking for with our markets."

Kerr added, "I'm not sure whether it will, in fact, change the ratings. I think it will, in fact, help us reach more effectively, particularly the 18-34-year-old group. That is one of the groups that is hardest to reach and I think that is where the cell phone activity will be most beneficial."

As part of its PPM enhancement announced earlier this month, the ratings company will introduce a multimodal recruitment approach. This new approach, detailed in a SEC filing and submitted to the U.S. House Oversight Committee, is "intended to increase the participation in key segments of their sample that are heavily comprised of youth and minorities."

Under the multimodal recruitment approach, Arbitron says it plans to begin in-person recruiting in July when it we will deploy in-person recruiting in high density Black and Hispanic areas in the top 25 PPM markets by year-end 2010. Full address-based sampling should be completed in all PPM Markets by 2011.

Additionally, Arbitron has proposed to undertake several initiatives focused on minority broadcasters, including launching the previously disclosed engagement metric in the first quarter of 2010, forming a minority leadership council in Spring, 2010 and expanding its current initiatives directed toward advertiser outreach for minority radio. (03-09-10)

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