NBC’s Billion Dollar Lab Adds Arbitron for London Olympics Research Effort

NBCUniversal has selected the Arbitron Portable People Meter service to track out-of-home television viewing for the 2012 Olympic Summer Games airing on NBCUniversal broadcast and cable networks.

As a part of The Billion Dollar Lab – NBCUniversal’s research efforts for the Beijing, Vancouver and London Olympics – NBCUniversal will have access to out-of-home Olympic viewing reports based on the approximately 69,000 PPM survey participants in 44 top U.S. media markets currently measured by Arbitron.

“We’re pleased to be selected once again to participate in NBCUniversal’s Billion Dollar Lab,” said Carol Edwards, senior vice president, Cross Platform Services. “Television screens are everywhere and the 2012 Summer Olympics will be a 17 day, round-the-clock television event for avid fans and viewers. The Arbitron PPM service is uniquely suited to the task of tracking Olympic broadcast and cable television audiences no matter where they tune in.”

The Arbitron Portable People Meter device is a personal and portable device that captures a consumer’s exposure to media and entertainment by passively capturing an inaudible code that can be embedded in the audio content of terrestrial, satellite and online radio broadcasts, in broadcast, cable and satellite television as well as cinema advertising and many types of place-based digital media.

Determining whether a PPM panelist is at home or out-of-home is accomplished through the use of a low power RF transmitter that is designed to act as a continuous “at-home” beacon. When a PPM panelist is at home and in range of the beacon, all exposure to encoded media collected by the PPM is tagged as at-home exposure. When the PPM panelist is out of range of the at-home beacon, all exposure to encoded media collected by the PPM is tagged as out-of-home exposure.

The Portable People Meter ratings service is deployed to measure 48 radio markets.

The 2012 Olympic Summer Games are being held in London and other locations in the United Kingdom from July 27, 2012 through August 12, 2012.