Arbitron Inc. (NYSE: ARB) announced today that ESPN Radio has entered into a multi-year agreement for Arbitron’s Portable People MeterTM radio ratings services for its five owned and operated radio stations.
Radio stations covered by the agreement are:
1050 ESPN Radio, New York (WEPN-AM)
710 ESPN, Los Angeles (KSPN-AM)
ESPN Radio 1000, Chicago (WMVP-AM)
103.3 FM ESPN, Dallas (KESN-FM)
ESPN Radio 1250 AM, Pittsburgh (WEAE-AM)
“We have been looking forward to participating in the technology since its conceptual stage,”said Traug F. Keller, Senior Vice-President, ESPN Radio and ESPN Deportes. “We are confident that this new methodology for tracking radio listening habits will accurately reflect the vitality and immediacy of the medium and, in our case, the compelling power of the ESPN brand for our radio listeners. We’re excited about the dialogue that this information will spark with the advertising community.”
Beginning in October 2007, New York is scheduled to become the third radio market in the United States to be measured by the Arbitron Portable People Meter. Philadelphia was the first market to make the full transition to Portable People Meter measurement in April 2007 and Houston will make the full transition in July 2007.
Over the next three years, Arbitron is scheduled to deploy the Portable People Meter in the top 50 markets in place of the paper and pencil diary method that the company has employed to collect radio audience estimates since 1965.
