AHAA denounces launch of PPM

From AHAA statement:

"The reckless, irresponsibility of Arbitron’s release of PPM without addressing the methodology and sampling issues is reprehensible,” says José Lόpez-Varela, chairman of AHAA. “It is an economic travesty to consider that an entire industry of cultural radio broadcasters may be wiped out because Arbitron executives wanted to collect their reward for an on-time launch rather than improve ratings accuracy. Minority stations are feeling the pressure of Arbitron’s monopoly on radio ratings and today, the company flexed its corporate muscle again creating even more problems and issues for cultural stations by insisting they begin using PPM today. The deceitful and manipulative move to strong arm stations and the advertising community again is shameful.”

The bottom line on this is that Arbitron decided to move forward despite severe concerns about PPM's accuracy. According to AHAA, some Spanish-language stations in PPM pre-test markets have experienced decreases in ratings and revenue of 50 to 70 percent.