Arbitron Debuts Personal Home Page for PPM Respondents

My Meter and Me” Web site tracks reward points and encourages panelists to carry the Portable People MeterTM every waking hour

Arbitron Inc. (NYSE:ARB) has introduced a personal home page system for Portable People Meter survey participants that is designed to track reward points and encourage panelists to carry the meter every waking hour.

Entitled “My Meter and Me,” the personal panelist Web site is one of a dozen plus initiatives that Arbitron has undertaken to improve PPM sample performance and increase industry confidence in the PPM measurement system.

Daily Personal Feedback For Better Portable People Meter Compliance
Available in English and Spanish, the “My Meter and Me” Web site offers panelists a secure and personalized way to check their earned reward points and see how they’re doing toward earning bonuses and sweepstakes entries. The Spanish language site is entitled “Mi Medidor y Yo.”

PPM respondents can also use “My Meter and Me” to:

• Graphically review their hour-by-hour carry time over the last seven days.
• Compare personal performance to others in the same household.
• Share compliance tips with any PPM respondent in any city through an anonymous, moderated Web forum.
• Inform Arbitron when they are traveling away from home or change their contact information.
• Contact Panel Relations via e-mail, text messaging or phone.
• Ask questions or submit comments.
• Participate in instant polls.
• Read or listen to Commonly Asked Questions for additional information.

“Giving PPM panelists reward points based on the amount of time they carry their meters is a patented means of motivating good survey compliance,” stated Bob Patchen, chief research officer, Arbitron Inc. “You can’t reward respondents based on the number of entries they fill out, or on the number of buttons they push. Because the PPM is passive and portable, you can use motion as a measure of survey compliance. That’s what makes ‘My Meter and Me’ such a compelling idea.”

Ongoing Portable People Meter Sample Initiatives
Since the Fall of 2007, Arbitron has initiated a number of sample initiatives as part of its commitment to continuous improvement, including:

• Increased sampling rates for P18-24 households (November 2007).
• Increased incentives for P18-24 households (in November 2007 and again in February 2008).
• Addition of P25-34 as sampling characteristic (in February 2008).
• Introduction of meter-carry accessories targeted at households with persons under 25 (Feb 2008).