Arbitron and VNU Sign Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. for Project Apollo.

Leading Retailer Signs Subscription Agreement for Information from the Pilot Panel of the Arbitron/VNU Single-Source National Research Service

NEW YORK -- Arbitron Inc. (NYSE: ARB) and VNU announced today that Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. - which spends approximately 600 million dollars for advertising on measured media - has signed a subscription agreement for the pilot panel of 'Project Apollo,' the single-source, national research service based on Arbitron's Portable People Meter(SM) system and ACNielsen's Homescan technology.

Wal-Mart will also join the Project Apollo Steering Committee, a select group of seven advertisers who, along with their advertising agencies, are advising Arbitron and VNU on the design of the Project Apollo service. These advertisers are also gaining early insights into the link between consumer exposure to advertising on multiple media and their shopping/purchase behavior. In the aggregate, the seven advertisers on the Steering Committee spend more than $6.8 billion for advertising on measured media.

"We are looking to Project Apollo as an innovative research service that will help us understand how multiple touchpoints of our media strategies work, including traditional vehicles and obviously our own store communication touchpoints," said Ramon Portilla, Director of Communication Insights, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. "We want to tap into Project Apollo's ability to help us reach consumers with more relevant messages through the ROI optimization of our unique touchpoints, to ultimately improve shopping experiences and sales results." In addition, "We are interested in seeing how the Apollo Project can help advertisers better understand the impact of in-store media as we continue to push the boundaries of this emerging medium with our new network for 2007," added Mike Hiatt, Director of Internal Media Networks.

"Thanks to Wal-Mart's participation on the Steering Committee, we expect we will be better able to develop Project Apollo into an even more valuable and robust single-source research service," said Linda Dupree, executive vice president, Portable People Meter New Product Development, Arbitron Inc. "Wal-Mart will be able to provide unique insights into the role that retailers play in process of consumer marketing."

"Our goal is to make Project Apollo an indispensable tool for improving the return on investment that marketers would make on their advertising dollars," said John Dimling, chairman emeritus, Nielsen Media Research. "With Wal-Mart Stores on board, we will have an additional perspective on how Project Apollo can enhance the visibility and credibility of advertising as a primary marketing tool."

About the Project Apollo Pilot Panel

Arbitron and VNU have deployed a pilot panel of more than 5,000 households as a demonstration of the 'Project Apollo' national marketing research service, which would collect multi-media and purchase information from a common sample of consumers.

The pilot panel is designed to show advertisers how 'Project Apollo' would enable a better understanding of the link between consumer exposure to advertising on multiple media and their shopping/purchase behavior. The pilot panel is designed to give advertisers the ability to estimate and quantify the top line revenue growth that could be achieved using Project Apollo. The pilot would also showcase the enhanced ability of the 'single-source' marketing research service to measure the return on investment for marketing efforts.

The pilot panel for the national marketing research service consists of approximately 11,000+ participants in 5,000 households, providing, for the first time, multi-media exposure and purchase information from a common sample of consumers.

These individuals are given incentives to voluntarily carry Arbitron's Portable People Meter, a small, cell phone-sized device that collects the volunteers' exposure to electronic media sources: broadcast television networks, cable networks, and network radio as well as audio-based commercials broadcast on these outlets and on additional media. Consumer exposure to other media such as newspapers, magazines and circulars are being collected through additional survey instruments.

Data on consumer preference and purchases for a wide range of services and products are being collected from panelists, via ACNielsen's Homescan technology, which tracks packaged goods purchases and by means of additional surveys, both conventional and electronic. Data are being collected in aggregate form to provide a holistic understanding of participants' media interactions and their resulting shopping and purchase behavior.

About VNU

VNU is a global information and media company with leading market positions and recognized brands in marketing information (ACNielsen), media information (Nielsen Media Research), business publications (Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Computing, Intermediair) and trade shows. The privately held company is active in more than 100 countries, with headquarters in Haarlem, the Netherlands, and New York, USA.

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.

Portable People Meter(SM) and PPM(SM) are marks of Arbitron Inc.

Note from Arbitron Inc. Regarding Forward-Looking Statements 

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The statements regarding Arbitron Inc. and its subsidiaries ("we," "Arbitron" or the "Company") 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 contracts with large customers as they expire;

* successfully execute our business strategies, including implementation of our Portable People Meter(SM) system and entering into joint-venture or other material 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;

* successfully manage the impact on costs of data collection due to lower respondent cooperation in surveys, privacy concerns, consumer trends, technology changes and/or government regulations;

* successfully develop and implement technology solutions to measure multi-media and advertising in an increasingly competitive environment; and

* successfully obtain and/or maintain Media Rating Council accreditation for our audience measurement services.

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 1A. RISK FACTORS" in Arbitron's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005.

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.