MRC grants accreditation to five more PPM markets

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ArbitronWednesday was a good day for Arbitron, as the Media Rating Council accredited the radio average-quarter-hour monthly ratings data produced by the PPM ratings service in five additional markets. MRC also voted to continue accreditation in nine markets – Atlanta, Cincinnati, Houston, Kansas City, Milwaukee-Racine, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and St. Louis.


The new markets are Los Angeles, Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Baltimore, Riverside-San Bernardino, and San Antonio.

Los Angeles, Baltimore and San Antonio – are being granted MRC accreditation for the first time. Riverside-San Bernardino and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater – are regaining accreditation, which had been withdrawn by the MRC in January 2012.

In total, 14 markets can now display the MRC double checkmark logo for the radio average-quarter-hour monthly ratings data produced by the Portable People Meter radio ratings service.

The MRC voted to not grant accreditation at this time in the remaining 34 PPM markets, and therefore PPM data in those markets continue to be unaccredited.

“We are pleased the MRC has recognized the progress we have made; at the same time we understand there is still work to be done,” said Gregg Lindner, executive vice president, Service Innovation and Chief Research Officer, Arbitron Inc. “We will continue our efforts to maintain the MRC double checkmarks in our currently accredited PPM markets and to achieve service-wide accreditation for all PPM markets.”

RBR-TVBR asked MRC CEO George Ivie:

Why were these five markets accredited?
These accreditation decisions were a result of MRC’s ongoing assessment of performance and standards compliance that happens for all PPM markets when audits are completed.

What criteria kept the other nine markets accredited?
The audit committee and MRC Board concluded that accreditation criteria have been met and that Arbitron could sustain its performance for all the currently accredited markets.