Nielsen to buy radio station audience rating provider Arbitron for $1.26 billion

Television viewership ratings provider Nielsen Holdings yesterday said that it will buy Arbitron Inc, a company that provides radio station audience ratings in the US, for $1.26 billion in cash.

The New York-based TV-ratings giant will pay $48 per share in cash, a premium of 26 per cent over Arbitron's Monday closing price.

The proposed acquisition, which is expected to generate synergies of $20 million, will merge two of the largest audience-measurement companies in the US.

The two companies will have combined annual revenues of $6 billion and profit of about $346 million.

"US. consumers spend almost 2 hours a day with radio. It is and will continue to be a vibrant and important advertising medium," said David Calhoun, Nielsen's CEO in a statement. "Arbitron will help Nielsen better solve for unmeasured areas of media consumption, including streaming audio and out-of-home."

''Radio reaches more than 92 per cent of all American teens and adults because they love to listen to music, talk, news and information while at home, at work and in their cars,'' said William Kerr, president and CEO of Arbitron. ''By combining Nielsen's global capabilities and scale with Arbitron's unique radio measurement and listening information, advertisers and media clients will have better insights into consumer behavior and the return on marketing investments.''