BBM Canada to deploy portable people meter

Indiantelevision.com Team

(2 May 2008 2:30 pm)

MUMBAI: BBM Canada, which provides radio and television audience rating services to the Canadian broadcast advertising industry, is ready to deploy portable people meter (PPM) technology for its services.

As an arrangement, it has selected a joint bid by TNS Media Research and Arbitron Inc to deploy the same.

TNS Media Research is a division of TNS that provides internet, TV, and radio audience measurement worldwide while Arbitron Inc provides media and marketing information services to radio stations, advertising agencies, and advertisers in the United States.

The PPM technology will be installed for electronic measurement of television and radio in Canada.

Also, the PPM television service will be based on the combined TV and radio meter panel. Installation of the system will begin in early 2009 and will roll out later that year.

"BBM blazed the trail in portable measurement when it adopted PPM for TV audience currency in Montreal and Quebec in 2004. Since then the system has been adopted as currency in a number of countries. So we are delighted that the PPM is being adopted by the rest of Canada. We are looking forward to partnering with BBM and Arbitron to roll out what will be the world's largest meter panel providing both TV and Radio currency," said TNS Media Research global head Richard Marks.

"We designed the PPM to be a robust and adaptable technology. That's why the PPM is the ideal solution for single source media measurement where one panel of consumers is used to measure many channels of media distribution," added Arbitron Inc chairman, president and chief executive officer Steve Morris.

Following an extensive evaluation period starting in June 2007, TNS and Arbitron put in their joint bid to win the BBM tender. TNS has been working with Arbitron, whch developed the PPM system, for eight years and there are now approximately 30,000 PPMs deployed around the world across eight commercial measurement services.

"BBM's goal in this process was to ensure that our electronic television measurement system was employing the most efficient and cost-effective technology available," said BBM Canada president and CEO Jim MacLeod.