Arbitron Limits Trade Press Numbers to Subs Only

RADIO ONLINE | Monday, April 16, 2012

Arbitron took the radical step on Monday to protect their copyrighted material. With the release of the firm's March 2012 PPM on Monday, Arbitron has announced that it will only provide data results to the trade press for the stations that subscribe to the service. Arbitron clients will continue to receive all data for the market, including subscribing and non-subscribing stations.

In recent years, Arbitron has embargoed several markets where the 12+ reports were being illegally used. Later, the company began releasing some markets on a "subscriber only" basis. That will now be the case for every market provided to the trade press. Results on Monday for Nassau-Suffolk, Middlesex-Somerset-Union and San Jose have been greatly impacted.

In regard to stations, Arbitron says each outlet has an obligation to keep these data out of the hands of nonsubscribing stations. On its web site the following is posted:

"To understand the rationale behind these do's and don'ts, think about who will have access to the information you are distributing. The broader the audience for your communication, the fewer specific estimates you can publish. And always remember to include the copyright notice and the proper sourcing of the estimates on every piece you produce."