A guerra Arbitron-Media Audit (pela medição electrónica)

«Media Audit has released the results of what they’re calling "landmark" study of 1,000 adults in which they gave consumers a choice: cellphone or pager. Media Audit says consumers would be far more likely to participate in a research study using a cell phone rather than a pager-like device. Not surprisingly, Arbitron disagrees with Media Audit’s findings.

“This is a landmark study," said Bob Jordan, president of The Media Audit. "The research shows adults are 3.5 times more likely to agree to participate in a panel study using a cell phone (66%) versus 18% who would agree to carry a pager. These findings coincide with common sense and put a dimension to what most people already believe. The cell phone is an integral part of people's lives today. The less disruptive the monitoring device, the more inclined people are to cooperate. Greater cooperation leads to more reliable and accurate research. Of the monitoring devices that are being used today, cell phones are the least intrusive to our life styles. This is why we say the cell phone is the simple, common sense solution for media measurement today and for tomorrow."

Arbitron VP/Communications Thom Mocarsky responded, saying “landmark” is “an awfully big word to describe a telephone survey that asked a single question among only 1,000 people. That's exactly half the size of the number of people who have been carrying PPMs in Houston for the past year.”

Mocarsky continued, “Arbitron never describes the PPM as a ‘pager’ to consumers. We call it a ‘Personal Meter.’” And, he added, “Arbitron has shown in real field trials in a real radio market that people really do carry the PPM.”

Mocarsky concluded, “Never forget that the PPM system measures compliance every day. We know when and for how long people participate. We are way past ‘if you were to agree.’"»

fonte: «Arbitron Disputes Media Audit Study», radio Ink, 21/7/07