Radio Industry Leaders Team to Improve Marketing Mix Models to Demonstrate the Impact of Radio Advertising on Product Sales
December 07 2009 - 8:00AM
PR Newswire (US)
COLUMBIA, Md., Dec. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Today Arbitron Inc.
(NYSE: ARB), and a consortium of radio industry leaders agreed to
collaborate on an initiative intended to improve the analytical
methods used by advertisers to evaluate the tangible impact of
radio advertising on product sales. Arbitron, together with
Dial-Global, Premiere Radio Networks and Westwood One, plan to
improve how radio is incorporated into Marketing Mix Models that
are widely used by advertisers to evaluate how product sales are
influenced by advertising on different combinations of media.
Arbitron, Dial-Global, Premiere Radio Networks and Westwood One
have agreed to fund the initiative and work with the leading
marketing mix companies to update their models with more granular
and timely radio data. "This initiative is a major effort designed
to help radio claim a larger share of marketing spend," said Carol
Hanley, Senior Vice President/Chief Sales Officer, Arbitron Inc.
"We are committed to joining forces with our customers to help
ensure that marketers have demonstrable insights into the full
power of radio." "This initiative demonstrates an important
commitment to our entire industry, as these models have an impact
on all of radio. This project will ensure the best practices and
data available are employed when determining the value of our
medium to an advertiser's potential investment," said David Landau,
CEO/President, Dial Global. "Premiere fully supports this
long-awaited effort to improve the metrics and tools for
understanding, planning and executing audio campaigns," said
Charlie Rahilly, President, National Advertising Platforms, Clear
Channel Radio. "We've always known from our clients that the medium
has worked. Through this initiative, we have a terrific opportunity
to validate that statistically." "Updating the market mix models
will allow advertisers to validate the link between radio and
product sales," said Paul Bronstein, Vice President of Research at
Westwood One. The companies have retained Sequent Partners to guide
and coordinate their effort. Sequent Partners is a leading brand
and media metrics consultancy with substantial media research
experience and high credibility with the media, advertisers and the
advertising community. About Arbitron Arbitron Inc. (NYSE:ARB) is a
media and marketing research firm serving the media -- radio,
television, cable, online radio and out-of-home -- as well as
advertisers and advertising agencies. Arbitron's core businesses
are measuring network and local market radio audiences across the
United States; surveying the retail, media and product patterns of
local market consumers; and providing application software used for
analyzing media audience and marketing information data. The
company has developed the Portable People Meter, a new technology
for media and marketing research. Portable People Meter(TM) and
PPM(TM) are marks of Arbitron Inc. PPM ratings are based on
audience estimates and are the opinion of Arbitron and should not
be relied on for precise accuracy or precise representativeness of
a demographic or radio market. About Dial Global Dial Global is
radio's largest full-service, independent radio network, providing
national advertising sales representation to over 200 radio
programs and networks in addition to Dial Global's own programming
and services. Including the Jones Digital Formats and the Dial
Global Digital 24/7 Network, Dial Global Programming now produces
and syndicates approximately 100 music programs and prep services
in a variety of formats to more than 6,000 radio stations
nationwide. Dial Global is owned by Triton Media Group, LLC, a
leading supplier of digital products and services to the media
industry. Triton is a portfolio company of a fund managed by
Oaktree Capital Management, L.P., a leading global investment
management firm. About Premiere Radio Networks Premiere Radio
Networks, Inc., a subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications,
syndicates 90 radio programs and services to more than 5,000 radio
affiliations and reaches over 190 million listeners weekly.
Premiere Radio is the number one radio network in the country and
features the following personalities: Rush Limbaugh, Jim Rome, Ryan
Seacrest, Glenn Beck, Bob & Tom, Delilah, Steve Harvey, Blair
Garner, George Noory, John Boy and Billy, Big Tigger, Dr. Dean
Edell, Sean Hannity, Elvis Duran, Jason Lewis, Randi Rhodes and
others. Premiere is based in Sherman Oaks, California, with 13
offices nationwide. Additional information is available at
http://www.premiereradio.com/. About Westwood One Westwood One
(NASDAQ:WWON) is one of the nation's largest providers of network
radio programming and one of the largest domestic providers of
traffic information in the U.S. Westwood One serves approximately
5,000 radio and 170 TV stations in the U.S. Westwood One provides
over 150 news, sports, music, talk and entertainment programs,
features and live events to numerous media partners. Through its
Metro Traffic division, Westwood One provides traffic reporting and
local news, sports and weather to approximately 2,300 radio and TV
stations. Westwood One also provides digital and other
cross-platform delivery of its network and Metro content. Arbitron
Forward-Looking Statements Statements in this release that are not
strictly historical, including the statements regarding
expectations for 2009 and any other statements regarding events or
developments that we believe or anticipate will or may occur in the
future, may be "forward-looking" statements. There are a number of
important factors that could cause actual events to differ
materially from those suggested or indicated by such
forward-looking statements. These factors include, among other
things, the current global economic recession and the upheaval in
the credit markets and financial services industry, competition,
our ability to develop and successfully market new products and
technologies, our ability to successfully commercialize our
Portable People Meter(TM) service, the growth rates and cyclicality
of markets we serve, our ability to expand our business in new
markets, our ability to successfully identify, consummate and
integrate appropriate acquisitions, the impact of increased costs
of data collection including a trend toward increasing incidence of
cell phone-only households, litigation and other contingent
liabilities including intellectual property matters, our compliance
with applicable laws and regulations and changes in applicable laws
and regulations, our ability to achieve projected efficiencies,
cost reductions, sales growth and earnings, and international
economic, political, legal and business factors. Additional
information regarding the factors that may cause actual results to
differ materially from these forward-looking statements is
available in our SEC filings, including our 2008 Annual Report on
Form 10-K. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the
date of this release and the Company does not assume any obligation
to update any forward-looking statement. DATASOURCE: Arbitron Inc.
CONTACT: Jessica Benbow, Arbitron Inc., +1-410-312-8363, Web Site:
http://www.arbitron.com/
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