Arbitron Updates Financial Guidance for 2006; Arbitron Announces Termination of Nielsen Media Research Option for Portable People Meter Joint Venture; Company to Focus on Its Proposed ``Radio First'' Deployment of the Portable People Meter System.

NEW YORK -- Arbitron Inc. (NYSE: ARB) announced earlier today the termination of Nielsen Media Research's option, under a May 2000 agreement, to join Arbitron in a commercial deployment of the Portable People Meter (PPM(SM)) as a radio and television ratings service in local markets in the United States.

Arbitron will now concentrate its efforts on previously announced plans to create a PPM ratings service for radio as well as to develop other, non-currency services for the broadcast television and cable industry.

The range for the 2006 Earnings per Share guidance issued by Arbitron on January 24, 2006 accounted for the possibility that Nielsen might not exercise its option. The company stated at that time that refinements to guidance estimates would be provided as such decisions were made.

Taking into account the decision by Nielsen and the current status of Arbitron's efforts to create, on its own, a PPM-based ratings service for radio, the company now expects that Earnings Per Share (diluted) for the year ending December 31, 2006 is expected to be between $1.65 and $1.70.

Arbitron's year-end 2006 revenue guidance is unchanged. As previously stated, year end 2006 revenue is expected to increase between 6 percent and 8 percent compared to year end 2005.

Commenting on the updated guidance, Steve Morris, president and chief executive officer of Arbitron, said, "We have spoken often of our commitment to bring electronic measurement to radio with or without Nielsen as a joint venture partner. Our forecasts to date have reflected both those possibilities. Now that Nielsen Media Research has not exercised its option, we are refining our 2006 Earnings per Share guidance to reflect the previously anticipated financial impact of commercializing PPM on our own."

Conference Call: Schedule and Access

Arbitron will host a brief conference call at 11:00 a.m. ET Thursday, March 2 to entertain any questions from the investment community related to this announcement. Management will not address issues beyond the scope of the announcements in this release on tomorrow's conference call.

To listen to the call, dial the following telephone number: 888-802-8577 (Domestic) and 973-935-2981 (International). The call will also be available live on the Internet at the following sites: www.arbitron.com, www.ccbn.com and www.streetevents.com.

There will be a replay available from 12:00 p.m. on March 2, 2006, through 11:59 p.m. on March 9, 2006. Please call: 877-519-4471 (Domestic); 973-341-3080 (International); ID Code for Replay: 7104882.

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:

--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 and to execute potential joint venture or third party agreements;

--effectively manage the impact of any further 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, technology changes 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.

The forward-looking statements contained in this document speak only as of the date hereof, and Arbitron undertakes no obligation to correct or update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.