Cross-platform delivery increases exposure to ESPN's Mike & Mike in the Morning

COLUMBIA, Md., Aug. 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Most fans of the ESPN sports talk show, Mike and Mike in the Morning, choose to consume the show either on radio or on TV, but those who use both spend much more time with the program, according to the results of a cross-platform study by ESPN and Arbitron Inc. (NYSE: ARB).

The cross-platform study detailed how fans in markets measured by the Arbitron Portable People Meter™(PPM^®) service listened to the ESPN sport talk duo on radio and watched the simulcast on ESPN2 cable television.

Among the findings:

• The sports talk show garnered a weekly cumulative audience of 4.7 million fans, age 6 and older, during the months of November 2011 to April 2012.
• Radio delivered 2.3 million exclusive weekly listeners; cable TV, 1.6 million exclusive viewers; and 800,000 fans accessed the show both on radio and cable television.
• While dual media users accounted for 17 percent of the Persons 6+ weekly audience, they delivered 28 percent of the weekly usage by spending nearly twice as much time with the sports duo than the radio-only or TV-only audience.
• Radio remains the quintessential out of home medium. 59 percent of the Persons 6+ average quarter hour audience for radio listens outside of the home.
• Only 5 percent of the average audience delivered by cable TV came from out from home locations.

"This study demonstrates once again that cross media consumption is not a zero-sum proposition," said Glenn Enoch, vice president of integrated media research at ESPN.  "Fans choose the best available media platform based on where they find themselves throughout the day, which leads to increased reach and consumption of ESPN content whether on TV, radio, Internet, mobile, or print."

"The Arbitron Portable People Meter service is the premiere ratings service that can deliver reliable estimates of unduplicated audience that a multi-platform show like Mike and Mike in the Morning can deliver," said Gregg Lindner, Executive Vice President, Service Innovation and Chief Research Officer, Arbitron Inc. "By metering the person and not the media distribution device with a portable, passive and personal methodology, Arbitron is in a unique position to provide advertisers, agencies and the media with the insights that can help the industry make the most of their cross-platform options."

Detailed findings

Mike and Mike in the Morning Cross-Platform Audience by Platform
Portable People Meter Markets
Monday-Friday 6AM-10AM
November 2011 - April 2012

Mike and Mike in the Morning Cross-Platform Audience by Location
Portable People Meter Markets
Monday-Friday 6AM-10AM
November 2011 - April 2012

About Arbitron

Arbitron Inc. (NYSE: ARB) is an international media and marketing research firm serving the media–radio, television, cable and out-of-home; the mobile industry as well as advertising agencies and advertisers around the world. Arbitron's businesses include: measuring network and local market radio audiences across the United States; surveying the retail, media and product patterns of U.S. consumers; providing mobile audience measurement and analytics in the United States, Europe, Asia and Australia, and developing application software used for analyzing media audience and marketing information data. The Company has developed the Portable People Meter ™ (PPM®) and the PPM 360™, new technologies for media and marketing research.

Portable People Meter™, PPM® and PPM 360™ are marks of Arbitron Inc.

PPM ratings are based on audience estimates and are the opinion of Arbitron and should not be relied on for precise accuracy or precise representativeness of a demographic or radio market.

Statements in this release that are not strictly historical, including the statements regarding expectations for 2012 and any other statements regarding events or developments that we believe or anticipate will or may occur in the future, may be "forward-looking" statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause actual events to differ materially from those suggested or indicated by such forward-looking statements. These factors include, among other things, the current global economic recession and the upheaval in the credit markets and financial services industry, competition, our ability to develop and successfully market new products and technologies, our ability to successfully commercialize our Portable People Meter™ service, the growth rates and cyclicality of markets we serve, our ability to expand our business in new markets, our ability to successfully identify, consummate and integrate appropriate acquisitions, the impact of increased costs of data collection including a trend toward increasing incidence of cell phone-only households, litigation and other contingent liabilities including intellectual property matters, our compliance with applicable laws and regulations and changes in applicable laws and regulations, our ability to achieve projected efficiencies, cost reductions, sales growth and earnings, and international economic, political, legal and business factors. Additional information regarding the factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements is available in our SEC filings, including our 2011 Annual Report on Form 10-K. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release and the Company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statement.

SOURCE Arbitron Inc.