Arbitron and VNU Agree to Deploy Pilot Panel for 'Project Apollo' Ma

Arbitron and VNU Agree to Deploy Pilot Panel for 'Project Apollo' Marketing Research Service

    Business Editors/Marketing Writers

    NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 2, 2005--

Two Companies to Equip More Than 6,000 U.S. Households with Portable
    People Meter and HomeScan Technologies by Year End 2005

    Arbitron Inc. (NYSE:ARB) and VNU (VNUN.AS) announced today that they have agreed to deploy, by year end 2005, a pilot panel of more than 6,000 households as a demonstration of the 'Project Apollo' national marketing research service which would collect multi-media and purchase information from a common sample of consumers.
    The pilot panel will be designed to show advertisers how 'Project Apollo' would enable a better understanding of the link between consumer exposure to advertising on multiple media and their shopping/purchase behavior. The pilot panel will be designed to give advertisers the ability to estimate and quantify the top line revenue growth that could be achieved using Project Apollo. The pilot will also showcase the enhanced ability of the 'single-source' marketing research service to measure the return on investment for marketing efforts.
    "This agreement reflects the continuing progress that our two companies have been making since October 2004 toward developing and deploying an innovative national marketing research service based on a portfolio of technologies and other resources from multiple companies," said Susan Whiting, president and chief executive officer of Nielsen Media Research, and executive vice president of VNU's Media Measurement & Information Group. "We are looking to this pilot to demonstrate to advertisers the superior return on media investments that Project Apollo would make possible."
    Said Steve Morris, president and chief executive officer, Arbitron Inc., "Beginning in January 2006, the Project Apollo pilot panel will provide advertisers what they have been asking our two companies for: a means to magnify the effectiveness of their marketing efforts as well as a way to quantify the improved return on investment that Project Apollo can make possible. Through the pilot panel, marketers will be able to see that the behavioral-based marketing targets Project Apollo can devise would be substantially different and yield better decisions than what they are using today."

    About the Project Apollo Pilot Panel

    The pilot panel for the national marketing research service will consist of approximately 14,500 participants in 6,250 households, providing, for the first time, multi-media exposure and purchase information from a common sample of consumers.
    These individuals will be incented to voluntarily carry Arbitron's Portable People Meter (PPM), a small, cell phone-sized device that collects the volunteers' exposure to electronic media sources: broadcast television networks, cable networks, and network radio as well as audio-based commercials broadcast on these outlets and on additional media. Consumer exposure to other media such as newspapers, magazines and circulars would also be collected through additional survey instruments.
    Data on consumer preference and purchases for a wide range of services and products would also be collected from panelists, via ACNielsen's Homescan technology, which tracks packaged goods purchases and by means of additional surveys, both conventional and electronic. Data would be collected in aggregate form to provide a holistic understanding of participants' media interactions and their resulting shopping and purchase behavior.
    Both Arbitron and VNU emphasized that the service announced today would be separate, distinct and designed very differently from any service for TV and radio ratings.

    About VNU

    VNU is a global information and media company with leading market positions and recognized brands in marketing information (ACNielsen), media measurement and information (Nielsen Media Research), business information (Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Computing, Intermediair) and directory publishing (Golden Pages). VNU is active in more than 100 countries, with headquarters in Haarlem, The Netherlands and New York, USA. The company employs 38,000 people. Total revenues amounted to approximately EUR 4.0 billion in 2003. VNU is listed on the Euronext Amsterdam (VNUN.AS) stock exchange.

    For more information, please visit the VNU website at www.vnu.com

    About Arbitron

    Arbitron Inc. (NYSE: ARB) is an international media and marketing research firm serving radio broadcasters, cable companies, advertisers, advertising agencies and outdoor advertising companies in the United States, Mexico and Europe. Arbitron's core businesses are measuring network and local market radio audiences across the United States; surveying the retail, media and product patterns of local market consumers; and providing application software used for analyzing media audience and marketing information data. The Company is developing the Portable People Meter, a new technology for media and marketing research.
    Arbitron's marketing and business units are supported by a world-renowned research and technology organization located in Columbia, Maryland. Arbitron has approximately 1700 employees; its executive offices are located in New York City.
    Through its Scarborough Research joint venture with VNU, Inc., Arbitron also provides media and marketing research services to the broadcast television, cable, magazine, newspaper and online industries.

    PPM(SM) is a service mark of Arbitron Inc.

    This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The statements regarding Arbitron in this document that are not historical in nature, particularly those that utilize terminology such as "may," "will," "should," "likely," "expects," "anticipates," "estimates," "believes" or "plans," or comparable terminology, are forward-looking statements based on current expectations about future events, which Arbitron has derived from information currently available to it. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause our results to be materially different from results implied in such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include whether we will be able to:

--	renew all or part of contracts with large customers as they expire;
--	successfully execute our business strategies, including implementation of our Portable People Meter services, as well as expansion of international operations;
--	effectively manage the impact of further consolidation in the radio industry;
--	keep up with rapidly changing technological needs of our customer base, including creating new products and services that meet these needs;
--	successfully manage the impact on our business of any economic downturn generally and in the advertising market in particular; and
--	successfully manage the impact on costs of data collection due to privacy concerns and/or government regulations.

    Additional important factors known to Arbitron that could cause forward-looking statements to turn out to be incorrect are identified and discussed from time to time in Arbitron's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including in particular the risk factors discussed under the caption "ITEM 1. BUSINESS - Business Risks" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K.
    The forward-looking statements contained in this document speak only as of the date hereof, and Arbitron undertakes no obligation to correct or update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

--30--ML/ny*

CONTACT: Arbitron Inc. Thom Mocarsky, 212-887-1314 thom.mocarsky@arbitron.com or VNU Jack Loftus, 646-654-8360 jack.loftus@nielsenmedia.com

KEYWORD: NEW YORK INDUSTRY KEYWORD: ADVERTISING/MARKETING MARKETING AGREEMENTS SOURCE: Arbitron Inc.

Copyright Business Wire 2005