Arbitron Signs Licensing Agreement With Taylor Nelson Sofres.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 15, 1999--

The Arbitron Company has signed an agreement with Taylor Nelson Sofres, one of the world's leading marketing information and television audience measurement companies, granting Taylor Nelson Sofres a license to use Arbitron's patented audio-encoding technology for television audience measurement services.

"Over the next two decades, research companies around the world will need to measure audiences in an increasingly complex environment of analog and digital TV receivers," says Mike Kirkham, director, Taylor Nelson Sofres. "Audio encoding provides one of the most reliable and affordable solutions for identifying the source of a program in this hybrid broadcasting environment. Arbitron has a superior and proven encoding system that's designed specifically for broadcast audience measurement."

"We're delighted that Taylor Nelson Sofres recognizes the viability of Arbitron's audio encoding technology for audience measurement around the world," adds Steve Morris, president of The Arbitron Company. "This agreement is the first step in establishing the Arbitron encoding system as a global solution for tracking television and radio audiences in the emerging digital broadcasting era."

Taylor Nelson Sofres intends to use Arbitron's audio-encoding technology in its PeopleMeters. These will then detect inaudible channel identification codes, which are embedded in the transmissions by broadcasters.

Arbitron's patented audio-encoding technology was developed as part of its Portable People Meter (PPM) system, a pager-size audience measurement system that tracks radio listening as well as television, cable and satellite television viewing. Currently, the PPM system is being extensively tested in Manchester, England, overseen by Continental Research, Arbitron's U.K.-based research affiliate.

The small, pager-like PPM device is carried throughout the day by survey participants, tracking the television programs they watch and the radio stations they listen to by detecting inaudible codes embedded by broadcasters. At the end of the day, the meter is placed in a docking station that extracts the channel codes and sends the audience data to a central computer.

Arbitron retains the use of its encoding system for use with the PPM. The license applies to the use of Arbitron's encoding technology in Taylor Nelson Sofres' TARiS PeopleMeters in the U.K.

About Taylor Nelson Sofres

Taylor Nelson Sofres is an international leader in media research and TV audience measurement. The research group has been associated with TV measurement for over 30 years in many countries across the world. As an innovator, Taylor Nelson Sofres was the first company to introduce the modern PeopleMeter, which has become the international standard in television research. It also has in-depth experience of conducting Establishment Surveys and operating large metered panels.

TARiS (Television Audience Research and Information System) is Taylor Nelson Sofres' system for television audience measurement. It comprises a complete range of metering equipment together with polling and processing software and a range of PC analysis systems. Significant investment in new technology provides the group's growing number of associates and partners with leading edge solutions for monitoring television audiences. The investment will continue, and it is through this international association that Taylor Nelson Sofres, and its partners, have remained at the forefront of TV audience research across the world.

Through its network of offices in more than 35 countries, Taylor Nelson Sofres provides marketing information services to leading national and multi-national companies operating in over 80 countries. It is ranked as the fourth largest marketing information group in the world. Additional information on Taylor Nelson Sofres is available on the corporate Web site at http://www.tnsofres.com.

About The Arbitron Company

Arbitron is an international media and marketing research firm serving broadcasters, advertisers and advertising agencies in the U.S.A. and Europe. Arbitron measures local U.S. radio audiences, and develops qualitative measures of U.S. consumers through Scarborough Research, a joint venture between Arbitron and VNU Marketing Information Services. In the U.K. and Europe, Continental Research, provides media, advertising, financial and telecommunications research.

Arbitron is a Ceridian company. Ceridian Corporation (NYSE: CEN) is a leading information services company that serves the human resources, transportation and media information markets. Ceridian's human resources businesses include Ceridian Employer Services, a provider of human resource management systems, payroll and tax filing services; Ceridian Benefits Services, a provider of comprehensive benefits administration and other human resource services; Ceridian Performance Partners, a provider of fully integrated workplace effectiveness solutions; Centrefile, a provider of payroll and human resources management solutions in the United Kingdom; and Usertech, a provider of computer user training and performance support programs. Ceridian's other businesses include Comdata, a provider of transaction processing and information services to the transportation industry, and Arbitron, a research company serving the media industry.

This release and prior releases are available on the KCSA Public Relations Worldwide Web site at www.kcsa.com.