American Research Bureau building in Maryland in 1964 j
ust a year before ARB started the rollout of radio ratings surveys.  

Arbitron syndicated research.

Arbitron ratings are produced principally for the advertiser and paid for by the radio industry. Arbitron is a sales tool, allowing the quantification of advertising buys. It is also radio's "report card" in that it measures the effectiveness of programming and marketing efforts of each station.

Arbitron Website Link

Arbitron has a useful and informative website. Click on the logo above and you will be there! There are a variety of subjects you can browse, from methodology to radio usage studies.

Arbitron Reports

I have selected several interesting reports published by Arbitron which are available for viewing by clicking on the title.

How Hispanic & Ethnic Audience is measured. Latest Hispanic Language Preference Report Why do station ratings wobble from trend to trend? What happens if the sample varies in my core demo? How are different formats trending nationally? How is radio listening changing?

Here are some Arbitron
and third party reports and
publications that are
particularly useful
today.

Click on the text to get the report or data.

2009 PPM Delivery
Dates

Guide to Using PPM
Data and Reports

Arbitron Training
Online courses for PPM and
the Diary surveys.

MSA Map in expandable
PDF format.

Blue Book for 2008:
Dates and Markets

Hispanic Radio Today:
Characteristics of the
Market

People Meter.
Summary of Houston test
Houston market Report
statistics and methodology.

How PPM encoding detections are credited: the Edit Rule
PPM Minute Level Crediting (PowerPoint)

Red Book.
Fall 2008
Listing of Radio Markets
Reports, Etc.

Arbitron Market Ranks

Questions about PPM
Arbitron PPM FAQ 2008
 

The Purple Book

The "Purple Book" explains much about how Arbitron data is used and how it works.  Click on the banner above to open a PDF version.  (Diary)