Arbitron has announced that 100 Kroger stores in the Houston area will participate in market trials of the Arbitron Portable People Meter system.

Beginning in September, the stores will use audio programming from In-Store Broadcasting Network, which provides an in-store music service and broadcast advertising network for Kroger in Houston.

The audio programming will be embedded with unique PPM identification codes supplied by Arbitron. These codes are inaudible and can only be detected by a PPM.

When an Arbitron PPM survey participant enters one of these retail outlets, the Portable People Meter will detect the codes and report that the individual has been exposed to its in-store audio programming.

By adding PPM codes to Kroger’s in-store audio in Houston, Arbitron will be able to demonstrate how the PPM can gauge store traffic.

“Without asking a PPM survey participant to do anything additional, we would be able to measure the retail visits as easily as we measure the audience that is exposed to the stations that carry the advertising for the retailer,” says Arbitron.

According to Scarborough Research, Kroger stores are visited by at least 51% of the adult population in Houston over the course of a typical week.

The Arbitron Portable People Meter (PPM) system uses a passive audience measurement device ­ about the size of a small mobile phone ­ to track consumer exposure to media and entertainment, including broadcast, cable and satellite television; terrestrial, satellite and online radio as well as cinema advertising and many types of place-based electronic media.

Carried throughout the day by randomly selected survey participants, the PPM device can track when and where they watch television, listen to radio as well as how they interact with other forms of media and entertainment.

The PPM detects inaudible codes embedded in the audio portion of media and entertainment content delivered by broadcasters, content providers and distributors. At the end of the day, the meter is placed in a docking station that extracts the codes and sends them to a central computer. The PPM is equipped with a motion sensor, a patented quality control feature unique to the system, which allows Arbitron to confirm the compliance of the PPM survey participants every day.