Arbitron, likewise, is still figuring out how to fold streaming audio into its model.
FORBES: Nielsen Buys Arbitron, Radio Ratings Service, In $1.3 Billion Deal
Arbitron officials tested the system last year in Philadelphia and are conducting another test in Houston.
There are industries that are being developed much more quickly than Arbitron is moving.
Anyone who wanted to take on Arbitron, he said, would be three to five years behind.
And Arbitron has its own reasons for wanting to introduce the new measuring system as soon as possible.
But Arbitron says it's well on its way to giving Clear Channel exactly what it has been asking for.
Late-Monday, Arbitron, said it was delaying the expansion of its new electronic radio ratings system, the Portable People Meter.
In June 2004, the Viacom unit announced it wouldn't renew its contract with Arbitron, sending the company's stock price plunging.
The device recognizes a signal that is "hidden" in a broadcaster's frequency and automatically sends the information back to Arbitron every night.
The study analyzed survey results from 218, 000 interviews conducted between August 2008 and September 2009 for the ratings agencies Nielsen and Arbitron.
Robert W. Baird analyst Mark Bacurin kept his "Outperform" rating, and said Arbitron's post-2008 results will not be affected by the delay.
By contrast, big data players such as Epsilon and Acxiom are growing their revenue and profits faster than Nielsen, Arbitron and Kantar combined.
Arbitron said that in that time it will extend the use of the paper-and-pencil diary system, a technology that hasn't changed since 1965.
But Hogan says that's the not the case this time, adding Clear Channel will be paying Arbitron though the length of its four-year contract.
Arbitron officials suggest that Hogan's public saber-rattling is reminiscent of the game of chicken the company played with the Infinity radio chain last year.
The latest is the new batch of ratings figures from Arbitron, which show listenership plummeting for some of the biggest names in radio.
Imagine a shrinking triangle where the top point is occupied by firms that measure audience size on media properties such as Nielsen, Arbitron and ComScore.
Newspaper and broadcast outlets, for example, maintain audits for circulation fraud and ratings fraud that rely on neutral companies such as Arbitron ( ARB) to regulate industry data.
The problem, says Clear Channel radio boss John Hogan , is that Arbitron is still using the same technology it used back when it first started--pen and paper.
Taken at face value, this should have Arbitron officials sweating.
Late-Monday, Arbitron (nyse: ARB - news - people ), said it was delaying the expansion of its new electronic radio ratings system, the Portable People Meter.
"It's new but it's growing fast, " says Thom Mocarsky, VP of communications for offline radio ratings giant Arbitron, which recently announced plans to issue ratings for 300 online radio stations.
According to an Arbitron spokesman, the meter samples in Philadelphia had fewer persons between 18 and 34 than the company would have liked, and the situation in New York was set to be the same.
Both Nielsen and Arbitron have a currency on which the ad-supported television and radio industries still rely and that provides them with differentiated margins, but neither core currency business is growing, since they are fully penetrated.
David Poltrack of CBS said that interviewees often under report TV watching, and that the research by Arbitron that is usually cited -- which conveniently points to more viewing and therefore more ad dollars -- is machine-recorded, and therefore more reliable.
Arbitron officials agree with Clear Channel on this point--a study the company commissioned this year said 25% of marketers surveyed said radio ad spending would increase if the new meters were put in place, while 8% said they would cut spending if the old system sticks around.
We're kind of on the fence here, since we ourselves have been known to lie about our TV viewing habits during an embarrassing Veronica Mars kick last year, but the fact that Arbitron's research comes from 2, 000 households in Houston during the Sprint of 2005 doesn't really incite confidence.
Clear Channel Communication 's (nyse: CCU - news - people ) radio division will announce this week that it expects to receive up to 30 proposals to dislodge radio ratings kingpin Arbitron (nyse: ARB - news - people ), which has been tracking listeners for 40 years.
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