Radio stations tune in to listeners

A device that detects the radio stations to which drivers are listening is becoming a popular way for stations and advertisers to target markets.

Since MobilTrak Inc.’s introduction to the Washington area in June, every major FM radio station and about 50 advertisers in the area have signed on to the service, said David Boice, a managing partner with the District-based company.

MobilTrak places devices the size of a shoe box in high-traffic areas and parking lots. The gray boxes have antennas that are 2 or 5 feet in diameter and can detect signals emitted from a radio’s oscillator up to 140 feet away, Mr. Boice said.

Every station emits a unique signal, or digital “thumbprint,” enabling the company to track in-car listening for specific stations, Mr. Boice said.

“Our technology detects that thumbprint and interprets it,” he said. “It’s like a traffic counter. This is really an electronic station counter.”

MobilTrak cannot detect AM stations, cell phones or signals from any other digital device, Mr. Boice said. However, the company will be able to monitor satellite radio, including XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio, by the end of this year.

The company compiles data in real time, and radio broadcasters say they like the speed with which they can obtain listening information. Businesses, particularly car dealerships, say the information helps them target their radio advertising more accurately.

Infinity Broadcasting Inc., which owns four FM stations in the area, has used MobilTrak data to track growing listenership of its WLZL-FM (99.1) station, said Michael Hughes, senior vice president of the company’s Washington office. The station switched from an alternative rock to a Spanish-language format last month.

Infinity uses MobilTrak “in concert” with data from Arbitron Inc., the research company that releases quarterly reports of radio listenership, Mr. Hughes said. Arbitron, MobilTrak’s main critic and competitor, also provides demographic information about the people it surveys, something MobilTrak does not do.

The Koons Tyson Toyota dealership in Vienna, Va., has been able to use its advertising dollars more effectively with MobilTrak, said senior sales manager Iman Shahbazy.

Advertisers who subscribe to MobilTrak’s service pay $500 to $1,000 per month, and radio customers pay about $2,500 per month, Mr. Boice said.

Between 50 and 60 MobilTrak devices are located on 23 major streets and business parking lots in the area, including car dealerships in Alexandria, Vienna, North Bethesda and Tysons Corner, Mr. Boice said.

MobilTrak also is used in Phoenix, Seattle, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Philadelphia.

A company called Navigauge is developing an in-car tracking system that relies on global positioning technology to measure listenership.

Arbitron plans to test-market its own electronic measurement device called the Portable People Meter later this year to provide up-to-the-minute listener data.

The device, comparable in size to a pager or small cell phone, will be given to people participating in Arbitron surveys to carry with them, said spokesman Thom Mocarsky.

With the number of radio options increasing, digital data recording is replacing traditional diaries like the ones Arbitron participants use, said Mark Fratrik, vice president of BIA Financial Network Inc., a media investment resource group in Chantilly.

“Now that you have hundreds of signals, it’s a very challenging task for individuals,” he said.

It is too early for MobilTrak to have an effect on advertising rates, he said.

MobilTrak’s methods have raised questions about privacy infringement.

“This is just another facet of a system that tracks everyone’s movement offline and online,” said Jeffery Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy in Washington. “It’s all part of this overall data collection and analysis that is really ultimately designed to target individual consumers.”

Mr. Boice said privacy invasion is an “absolute nonissue” for MobilTrak.

“It is not a violation of privacy because we don’t collect any identifiable personal information,” he said.

Arbitron says MobilTrak provides an incomplete measurement of radio listenership because it cannot track AM stations, it measures in-car listening only, it does not compile its own demographic data and its samples are not truly random.

MobilTrak “has no idea who and how many people are listening,” said spokesman Thom Mocarsky.

MobilTrak plans to begin providing a demographic service called Full Spectrum to its advertising customers beginning early next month for an added cost, Mr. Boice said.