• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, July 19, 2007

Radio ratings giant Arbitron this morning reported healthy revenue gain of 6.6% for the second quarter of 2007, but said costs and expenses soared 17.1% due in part to preparation for the rollout of portable people meter service in Philadelphia, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

The earnings results come one day after Aribtron officially launched its PPM service in Houston, marking the second U.S. radio market to adopt the portable meters as their official ratings currency for radio advertising deals. In April, Arbitron introduced PPMs as the official currency in Philadelphia, and to date has signed up most of the industry's leading broadcasters, including recent deals with Clear Channel, Cox Radio and Entravision Communications.

Initial data coming out of Houston reaffirms findings from Philadelphia and provides encouraging news for the radio industry. Among other things, the data shows that radio delivers a high composition of consumers who work full-time. While that's not surprising given the fact that radio is known as a commuter's medium, the PPM data is providing empirical proof.

Among all adults in Houston, 69.9% of radio listeners are full-time employees versus only 56.8% of the general adult population (see table below).

On a more tepid note, Arbitron Chairman, President & CEO Stephen Morris sent a mixed signal about prospects for Arbitron's Project Apollo joint venture with Nielsen Co.

"Our pilot subscribers continue to evaluate the Project Apollo value proposition in the context of their particular company's marketing needs," Morris stated. "Our goal remains to reach a decision about implementation in the second half of the year."