BBM Blogalytics

...and here's what BBM Canada has to say about PPM for TV:

Download BBM Canada Communique - PPM TV Panel Launch_08-28-2009

Next week's a big week!

Next week sees the launch of PPM methodology in TV markets across Canada.  Vancouver, Calgary, National and Toronto will join Montreal in being measured by the best and most up-to-date methodology that's around at the moment.  They'll soon be joined by the radio markets of Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal and Toronto. It's truly a good news story. 

There are many things that are good about PPM.  Here are a couple:

PPM picks up viewing and listening passively, meaning that people taking part are asked to do very little. The reason that's good is that it's generally accepted that the less you ask people to do, the more likely they are to do it!  Also, it means there's a greater likelihood of people acting in the same way they would be if they weren't being measured.  In other words, the way PPM measures behaviour has less effect on how people behave.  Put those two things together - good compliance and normal behaviour - and you have the fundamentals of accurate measurement.

Now, as with all new things, there's going to be a period of change and adjustment.  We're going to be releasing new versions of our software that have been adapted to handle the new data. In the case of TV, we're also providing you with up to 5 years of backdata that's been converted to the same definition of a day as PPM (it's moved from 6a-6a to 2a-2a).  You should have received information from us about how to do that and what it will mean for you.  If you haven't, and you'd like to, just give us a holler.

These are exciting times for the Canadian industry.  As well as having been the first to commercialize PPM-measured TV data, we're now going to have one of the largest combined PPM panels out there.  Good work!

PPM from a technical point of view

This article is pretty technical ("fricative phonemes", anyone?), but contains some useful thoughts on the strengths and weaknesses of PPM as a measurement device. 

One tip when reading it is to remember that here is no such thing as perfect methodology.  As a result, it's always most useful to consider new techniques or devices in comparison to what the alternatives are, rather than in isolation.  Download A technical look at Arbitron's PPM system

"Mobile TV 'very slow' to take off"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8210677.stm

Analytics partners with United Way in the Day of Caring

On Wednesday August 19^th the Toronto office of Analytics will be barbequing and entertaining 50 kids as part of United Way’s Day of Caring. The event will be held at Thorncliffe Neighbourhood Office which is a community based multicultural, multi-service agency providing community based services to the residents of Thorncliffe Park and surrounding communities. Programs and services include information and referral, a family violence program, women’s counseling, settlement services, language classes for newcomers etc. To learn more about Thorncliffe, please visit their website at www.thorncliffe.org.

 

We will be leaving the office at 10.30am ET and returning at about 3.30pm ET. If you need any help while we are out, please contact Adam Stranks in our Vancouver office at 778-219-6005 or Sylvie Danetz in our Montreal office at 514-878-1995 ext. 5103. If you want to hear more about the event, please call any of us and we’ll gladly tell you all about it.

Nielsen challenged in US

From today's FT.com:

Top US media companies and marketers have created a consortium to challenge the dominant force in TV audience measurement.

Nielsen controls the measurement of US audiences through the polling of 18,000 homes, where viewer habits are measured by clicks of a special remote control.

Media participants in the consortium – including networks owned by NBC Universal, Time Warner, News Corp, Viacom, CBS, Discovery and Walt Disney – expect it to be operational by September.

They have pulled in Procter & Gamble and AT&T, the top and third-biggest US advertisers, and Unilever. The involvement of such big names highlights how urgently advertisers feel the need for better information to justify ads that run across multiple media platforms.

Media agencies GroupM, owned by WPP, and Starcom MediaVest are also joining.

Tracking music with the social web

The Next Big Sound is a new online offering that tracks music - online. You can search for up to four artists or bands at a time and get instant results for the past week, month or more. The Next Big Sound uses sources such as Twitter, Last.FM and MySpace to determine how many times the artist is played.

A slightly more automated approach is also available – custom emails with the artist information you’re looking for can be delivered to you on a daily or weekly basis.