MEDIA PLANNING ASSIGNMENT
Problem/Opportunity in Media

Submitted To: Sir Agha Zohaib
Submitted By: Labesh Kumar (1135217)
Saturday, April 14, 2012

PORTABLE PEOPLE METER

The commence of People’s Meter has completely changes the media planning scenario in Pakistan providing the accurate and real time ratings for TV. Talking about Radio which has a significant market in Pakistan but still media planner is having a challenge to measure the rating for it.

Arbitron, A consumer research company in United States have developed an innovative and unique technology called the Portable People Meter (PPM). PPM is a unique audience measurement system that tracks what consumers listen to on the radio, and what consumers watch on broadcast television, cable and satellite TV. The Portable People Meter is a pager-sized device that consumers wear throughout the day. It works by detecting identification codes that can be embedded in the audio portion of any transmission.

The Portable People Meter system consists of several components: * Encoder, which is installed at the programming or distribution source to insert an inaudible identification code into the audio stream; * Station monitor, which is installed at the programming source to ensure audio content is encoded properly; * Portable People Meter, which is worn by a consumer to detect and record the inaudible codes in the programming that the consumer is exposed to; * Base station, where each survey participant places the meter at the end of the day to recharge the battery and to send collected codes to a household collection device known as a “hub;” * The Portable People Meter System in Action
Source: http://www.arbitron.com/portable_people_meters/thesystem_ppm.htm
The Portable People Meter System in Action
Source: http://www.arbitron.com/portable_people_meters/thesystem_ppm.htm
Household hub, which collects the codes from all the base stations in the survey household and transmits them to Arbitron via the telephone during the overnight hours.

How Audio Encoding Works: Arbitron's patented audio encoding system has been under development since 1992. The system has been continuously improved, tested and refined since then and is now being deployed in audience measurement research. It provides an extremely reliable means of identifying signal source, and works equally well with all existing electronic media delivery systems: analog, digital, live and recorded broadcasts. The embedded codes can even be picked up in transmissions delivered via the Internet. It is based on the science of “psychoacoustic masking,” which, simply explained, makes it possible to “hide” tiny bits of sound energy in the normal audio output of electronic media signals. This added sound energy creates a “fingerprint” which corresponds to a specific series of digits—this is the “code” in audio encoding—which in turn identify the specific source of the encoded signal. While present in the audio stream, the embedded code cannot be heard. The encoding technology is paired with decoding technology that searches out and recognizes the inaudible code in the audio output. This decoding system was developed by Arbitron with the assistance of Lockheed Martin, a major U.S. defense contractor having extensive experience in antisubmarine warfare systems. The decoder uses a computerized DSP (digital signal processor) to search out and identify the specific numeric code—and thus the signal source—of audio programs encoded using the Arbitron encoder. Each encoder puts out a specific series of audio codes so that (by installing an encoder in the transmission path of a television station, cable service, radio station, etc.,) the signal can be effectively tagged with the assigned code.

Recommendation:
Since the Radio Penetration in Pakistan is evergreen with a good share of media, this technology if implanted in the country would certainly benefit every stakeholders significantly, whether it is Radio Station company or Sponsoring Brands or Media Planners.

References: http://www.arbitron.com/portable_people_meters/thesystem_ppm.htm http://bbm.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16&Itemid=89
http://pakmediablog.net/295/the-advent-of-people-meters-in-pakistan/