The PPM replaced the old diary system, in which survey participants wrote down what they listened to or think they did over a week. It was imperfect, at best, and so is the PPM. Arbitron's had trouble getting younger people to participate. Many of them already have too many electronic gadgets on them, or don't want to deal with other requirements, involving an array of components, including a base station where participants place their meter at night, a hub that transmits codes to Arbitron and a portable recharger.
It's a wonder that anyone would want to be a participant, especially for the measly money the company traditionally has doled out. But I found one. She was between jobs a year ago when she was approached by Arbitron. They said they'd had difficulty finding people in this area in my age range. She had never heard of Arbitron but, after checking out the company, agreed to be a "panelist. And you're entered in contests for gift cards from Amazon or Visa. It's not a lot; it's just a little extra.
Soon, Sprauve was earning her keep. I didn't find it that intrusive. But I wouldn't take it to some occasions, like out to dinner, and they want you to wear it all day, from the time you wake up until you go to bed, and to wear it on your person.
You can't just leave it in your purse. And they pick up on it. They'll call you the next day or night and say, 'Hey, you weren't wearing it for 15 minutes yesterday. And if a panelist wasn't home one night? That's what the portable recharger is for. Out-of-town trips required a heads-up to Arbitron headquarters. The company, she said, didn't address the issue of accuracy, of panelists picking up signals of stations they had not chosen to hear. After joining her current company, Sprauve felt less at ease wearing the meter.
And it was bulky. Most of the story is about the how the ratings business is changing right now, but the New York Times Magazine had a little something today about how Arbitron, a company which measures radio station ratings, is currently testing the Portable People Meter, a pager-like two-inch by half-inch gadget that is supposed to be able to track all the media you're exposed to throughout the day.
Volunteers in Houston who have agreed to test the Portable People Meters are expected to wear them during all waking hours and then pop them into a cradle before they go to bed at night so the PPM can communicate back to Arbitron HQ what radio station you were listening to, what TV shows you were watching, etc. Assuming that it works—the PPM relies on radio and TV stations participating in the trials to encode special markers into their programming—this system would be more reliable than their current technique, which mainly involves trying to get people to keep track of what they listen to themselves.
And yes, they're already trying to work GPS in there somehow, as well as figure out if RFID tags in magazines and newspapers could be used to track your exposure to print advertising. Sign up. Arbitron's Portable People Meter. Rojas
0コメント