Wendy's International Selects Arbitron Portable People Meter Radio Ratings Service; Third-Largest Quick Service Hamburger Chain Seeks Detailed Radio Listening Data to Help Improve Use of Radio Advertising Dollars

Business Wire, March 6, 2006

NEW YORK -- Arbitron Inc. (NYSE: ARB) announced today that Wendy's, the third-largest quick-service hamburger chain in the world, has entered into a multi-year agreement for Arbitron's Portable People Meter (PPM(SM)) audience measurement service when it begins commercial deployment in the U.S. radio marketplace.

Through this contract, Wendy's would have access to PPM data in order to evaluate their radio advertising plans for all PPM markets. Believing that the PPM is the better way to measure radio, Wendy's is looking for a new way to improve the return on investment for their radio dollars.

According to Shannon Pedersen, manager, media buying, Wendy's International, "By giving us an enhanced, more reliable view of who is listening to what radio programming, when and for how long, this cutting-edge technology will improve accountability and increase our return on investment of our advertising dollars. Since Arbitron is the only company that has completed all the necessary testing and has gone through an MRC audit, it's the only electronic option that can deliver the ratings credibility that the radio industry needs today."

"When major advertisers like Wendy's choose our PPM radio ratings, it further demonstrates the increasing confidence advertisers and agencies alike have in the future of radio advertising and the PPM system," said Pierre Bouvard, president, Arbitron. "The support of major national advertisers like Wendy's as well as agencies and broadcasters clearly shows us that PPM has earned its role as the best electronic ratings option that is ready for radio today. We believe that the fact that premiere advertisers are 'on board' with PPM means more dollars for radio advertising and increased revenues for radio broadcasters."

The agreement with Wendy's does not commit Arbitron to a specific timetable for deployment of the Portable People Meter system. Arbitron has not yet determined when and in which markets it will deploy the Portable People Meter system to measure local market radio audiences.

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 Wendy's

Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers was founded in 1969 by Dave Thomas and is the third-largest quick-service hamburger chain in the world with over 6,700 restaurants in North America and international markets.

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 developed 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: