Arbitron Exceeds Expected People Meter Sample for January

COLUMBIA, MD.: Arbitron said today that it met or exceeded all of its sample-size metrics across its 33 Portable People Meter markets in its January survey. The audience-measurement company said its average “Designated Delivery Index,” or DDI, for people six years and older, was 109, and 104 for those 18-to-54.

DDI is the actual sample size for a given demographic, divided by the target sample size for the demographic, multiplied by 100. A DDI of 100 means that Arbitron achieved its sample target; a DDI of greater than 100 means that Arbitron exceeded its sample goal.

Arbitron claimed a new high DDI of a 98 for African-Americans 18-to-34. The DDI was 94 for all people 18-to-34; 91 for Hispanics 18-to-34 and 94 for all others aged 18-to-34.

The company describes its PPMs thus as using “a passive audience measurement device about the size of a cell phone to track consumer exposure to media and entertainment, including broadcast, cable and satellite television; terrestrial, satellite and online radio as well as cinema advertising and many types of place-based electronic media.” The device is carried around by randomly selected participants and can track when and where they watch TV, listen to the radio and interact with other media. It picks up inaudible codes in the audio portion of media and transfers it to a central computer from a docking station at the end of each day.