Univision Radio signs PPM contract with Arbitron

Univision Radio today announced that it signed multi-year contracts for Arbitron’s Portable People Meter (PPM) radio ratings services in 12 markets: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, San Jose, Dallas, Miami, San Diego, Phoenix, Las Vegas, San Antonio and Austin. Univision Radio has 44 stations in the 12 markets. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The company previously subscribed to the Arbitron PPM ratings service, but dropped it in almost all of its markets because it disliked and questioned Arbitron’s PPM methodology.

Univision Communications also joined the PPM Coalition, created in 2008, which believed that the PPM radio ratings service under-counted minority listeners. Earlier this year, Arbitron announced it implemented enhancements to the service to address the coalition’s concerns.

Univision Radio revenues dropped due to lack of ratings data (according to RBR, it had a 7.5% drop in Q3).