Arbitron Mobile and iResearch Consulting To Launch Mobile Media Measurement Service in China

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July 17, 2012
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Arbitron Mobile and iResearch Consulting To Launch Mobile Media Measurement Service in China

Companies to collaborate on a planned 10,000 person measurement panel to track mobile consumer audiences in the world's largest smartphone market

COLUMBIA, Md. and SHANGHAI, July 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Arbitron Mobile Oy, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Arbitron Inc., (NYSE: ARB), and iResearch Consulting, a leading online measurement company and consultant to the Internet industry in China, announced today an agreement to jointly operate a syndicated, mobile media research service in the world's largest smartphone market. The service would be based on a planned opt-in panel of approximately 10,000 persons in China who would install an on-device software meter developed by Arbitron Mobile onto their smartphones and tablets.

Arbitron Mobile and iResearch Consulting plan to provide marketers, content providers, app developers and wireless access suppliers in China and around the world with information on how mobile consumers in the iResearch/Arbitron Mobile China panel use apps, surf the web, engage in social media, participate in e-commerce, are exposed to and act on advertising, and employ their devices to communicate.

The mobile measurement panel would also be integrated with the iResearch iUserTracker online PC measurement service. The planned integrated offering would be able to deliver multi-screen measures of the online and mobile media activities of Chinese Internet consumers to Internet providers, ad networks, media outlets and technology companies located in China and globally.

Says Dr. Verkasalo of Arbitron Mobile: "China has surpassed the U.S. as the world's largest smartphone market. Our agreement with iResearch paves the way for the creation of leading online and mobile media measurement services in this huge potential market, while giving the Internet industry around the world access to large comprehensive mobile, online and multiscreen behavioral datasets from the vibrant and growing consumer population in China."

Said Sean Creamer, Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, Arbitron Inc: "Today's announcement represents a significant milestone in our efforts to extend our services to the leading markets around the world. Arbitron Mobile and iResearch have demonstrated how international collaboration can work to enrich the insights research firms provide to the growing mobile media industry."

Henry Yang, CEO of iResearch, comments "We believe that mobile presents an ever increasing opportunity for the Chinese Internet industry and iResearch intends to be a leading provider of insights into the mobile behaviors of China's online consumers. The agreement with Arbitron Mobile will provide us with best-in-class technologies to measure the mobile audience in China. And, through our collaborative marketing arrangement, we will be able to enhance the visibility of our company and the Chinese Internet industry that we serve to customers in Europe and North America."

As part of the agreement, Arbitron Mobile will be able to market iResearch data from the Chinese company's mobile and PC measurement services to its customers in Europe and North America. Similarly, iResearch will be able to market, to its customers in China, the mobile data from Arbitron Mobile Trends Panels(TM) services in Europe and North America.

Editor's note
A photograph of Dr. Hannu Verkasalo, Arbitron Mobile and Mr. Henry Yang, iResearch is available on the Arbitron Mobile website.

About iResearch Consulting
iResearch Consulting, founded 2002, is the leading consulting and media measurement company in the Internet industry in China. With 260 employees, iResearch, headquartered in Shanghai, has been at the forefront of Chinese Internet measurements and operates a currency Internet audience rating service for China.

About Arbitron Mobile
Arbitron Mobile currently operates syndicated mobile research panels in seven countries: United States, China, United Kingdom, Finland, Denmark, France, and Germany.  Arbitron Mobile also operates custom panels and licenses its technology in countries around the world. Founded in 2007 and acquired by Arbitron in 2011, the company is a pioneer in field of mobile on-device metering panels deployed for media research.

About Arbitron
Arbitron Inc. (NYSE: ARB) is an international media and marketing research firm serving the media - radio, television, cable, and out-of-home; the mobile industry; as well as advertising agencies and advertisers around the world. Arbitron businesses include: measuring network and local market radio audiences across the United States; surveying the retail, media, and product patterns of U.S. consumers; providing mobile audience measurement and analytics in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Australia; and developing application software used for analyzing media audience and marketing information data. The Company has developed the Portable People Meter (TM) (PPM(®)) and the PPM 360(TM), new technologies for media and marketing research.

Portable People Meter(TM), PPM® and PPM 360(TM) are marks of Arbitron Inc.

Statements in this release that are not strictly historical, including the statements regarding expectations for 2012 and any other statements regarding events or developments that we believe or anticipate will or may occur in the future, may be "forward-looking" statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause actual events to differ materially from those suggested or indicated by such forward-looking statements. These factors include, among other things, our ability to successfully integrate acquired operations, diversions of management resources, expenses incurred in financing the acquisition, differing levels of management and internal control effectiveness at the acquired entity, other unanticipated problems and liabilities, changes in the market, potential downturns in economic conditions, foreign exchange fluctuations, competition, our ability to develop and successfully market new products and technologies, the growth rates and cyclicality of markets we serve, our ability to expand our business in new markets, , litigation and other contingent liabilities including intellectual property matters, our compliance with applicable laws and regulations and changes in applicable laws and regulations, our ability to achieve projected efficiencies, cost reductions, sales growth and earnings, and other international economic, political, legal and business factors. Additional information regarding the factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements is available in Arbitron Inc.'s SEC filings, including the 2011 Annual Report on Form 10-K. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release and the Company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statement.

SOURCE  Arbitron Inc.

Arbitron Inc.

CONTACT: Investor Contact: Thom Mocarsky, Arbitron Inc., +1-410-312-8239, thom.mocarsky@arbitron.com; Press Contact: Kim Myers, Arbitron Inc., +1-410-312-8500, kim.myers@arbitron.com

Web Site: http://www.arbitron.com

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