• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, March 14, 2006

With 45 ad agencies, one national advertiser and two broadcasters in tow, Arbitron Tuesday announced plans to begin the rollout of a new radio audience measurement service based on its portable people meter technology in the top 50 radio markets. Arbitron said the conversion from its current paper-based diary method would begin with Houston in July, with plans to convert the top 10 radio markets by the fall of 2008 and the top 50 within three years following that.

The announcement comes as Nielsen Media Research hosts its clients at an annual meeting in Orlando, and follows Nielsen's decision to terminate an option to develop a joint TV and radio measurement service based on Arbitron's PPM system.

Arbitron President-CEO Steve Morris said Nielsen's decision has freed Arbitron to begin the "radio first" rollout plan. He implied the move would encourage others to commit to the PPM service, presumably radio broadcasters who so far have been loath to embrace the market-changing methodology despite rigorous testing and economic assessment by Arbitron and support from the Radio Advertising Bureau.

To date, only two broadcasters - Spanish Broadcasting and Beasley Broadcasting - have committed to its use, even though most of Madison Avenue's biggest radio buyers have endorsed the service.

Some influential radio broadcasters, especially, Clear Channel Communications, have been fishing for an alternative to the PPM. Clear Channel recently issued a request for proposals for a new, state-of-the-art electronic radio audience measurement system, and last week narrowed the list of candidates to three finalists including Arbitron, Mediamark Research Inc. and The Media Audit, all of whom have some form of passive radio audience measurement. The Clear Channel-lead initiative, which includes Madison Avenue executives, is expected to make a final selection and begin a field test soon.