Portable People Meter

The Portable People Meter (PPM ) is an instrument for measuring radio data of the company Arbitron. In large parts of the U.S., the Portable People Meter is in use since early 2007 (Philadelphia Panel, Panel Houston, San Francisco Panel, Panel Atlanta and other cities ). Arbitron plans to October / November 2010 to expand the network to the point that the Portable People Meter includes all parts of the United States.

Operation

The Portable People Meter is a pager, which is used as a decoder for beeps. A radio station sends down frequented beeps with their program that are received by the PPM. Thus it can be determined exactly when a particular person where and how long turned that radio program. Agent base station in the household of subjects every day (usually overnight) sent directly to the Institute to process the collected data. At the same time the pager battery is charged during the transmission process. Unlike other so-called radiometers the Portable People Meter records all ambient noise, allowing per-second audience measurement.

Results

Preliminary results showed, compared to conventional research methods such as the radio test that day ranges rise sharply, but the total listening time decreases. Also changed the radio use throughout the day. So dropping, partly the morning and morning use, however, the afternoon and evening to use.

As the device is partially still in test runs, no exact data can be given. The biggest advantage of digital measurement of radio use is, however, that a market research agency no longer needs to rely on vague statements of subjects, but all information is in digital form and transmitted gets.

Areas of application

Among other things, the device has been used for the years 2003/2004 in Canada and in Belgium, Norway, Kenya, Kazakhstan and Singapore for the measurement of radio and television use. Experiments are currently being carried out, among others, in the UK, Australia, France, Italy and Russia.