Radio & Records, Inc.: Arbitron Attempts To Combat Growing Problem

Radio & Records, Inc.: Arbitron Attempts To Combat Growing Problem

How do you create accurate phone surveys when more and more people only have cell phones? And how do you get accurate ratings when the cell-phone-onlies tend to come from certain key demographics? "Arbitron is moving from a phone-based sample frame to one based on addresses. The company has purchased an address-based sample from Philadelphia-based Marketing Systems Group. While 60% of the address-based sample can be matched to phone numbers, the remaining 40% cannot. That's where Arbitron goes fishing for cell-only households, using mailing incentives as bait. The process involves mailing pre-surveys to the address-based sample. Pre-surveys returned by households that identify themselves as cell phone-only (and that give Arbitron permission to contact them on their cell phone) are earmarked to receive a ratings diary."