OMD and PHD Commit to Arbitron Portable People Meter System for Future Radio Planning and Buying; Multi-Year Data Services Contract Includes Provision for Use of PPM-Based Radio Estimates

Business Wire, March 20, 2006

NEW YORK -- Arbitron Inc. (NYSE: ARB) announced today that OMD and PHD, two of the world's largest media services agencies, have signed a contract for the use of Portable People Meter (PPM(SM)) based radio audience estimates. The agreement covers the U.S.-based radio planning and buying activities of OMD and PHD, both part of the Omnicom Media Group.

Arbitron will start the rollout of the Portable People Meter (PPM(SM)) system as its radio ratings service in the top 50 markets, beginning with Houston in July 2006.

The rollout schedule, the company has announced, would put the Portable People Meter into the top 10 radio markets by the fall of 2008, and into all of the top 50 radio markets two to three years thereafter.

The Portable People Meter, an electronic audience measurement technology that has been in U.S. market trials since 2001, will be used in these markets in place of the current paper and pencil diary method that the company has employed to collect radio audience estimates since 1965.

About the Portable People Meter

The Arbitron Portable People Meter (PPM) system uses a passive audience measurement device - about the size of a small cell phone - to track consumer exposure to media and entertainment, including broadcast, cable and satellite television; terrestrial, satellite and online radio as well as cinema advertising and many types of place-based electronic media. Carried throughout the day by randomly selected survey participants, the PPM device can track when and where they watch television, listen to radio as well as how they interact with other forms of media and entertainment.

The PPM detects inaudible codes embedded in the audio portion of media and entertainment content delivered by broadcasters, content providers and distributors. At the end of the day, the meter is placed in a docking station that extracts the codes and sends them to a central computer. The PPM is equipped with a motion sensor, a patented quality control feature unique to the system, which allows Arbitron to confirm the compliance of the PPM survey participants every day.

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 has also deploying the Portable People Meter (PPM), a new technology for media and marketing research.

Arbitron's marketing and business units are supported by its research and technology organization, located in Columbia, Maryland. Arbitron has approximately 1,700 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, 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;

--effectively manage the impact of consolidation in the radio and advertising agency industries;

--keep up with rapidly changing technological needs of our customer base, including creating new proprietary software systems and new customer products and services that meet these needs in a timely manner;

--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.