Basis of Presentation

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2012

Basis of Presentation

1.    Basis of Presentation

Basis of Consolidation

The consolidated financial statements of Arbitron Inc. (“Arbitron” or the “Company”) for the year ended December 31, 2012, reflect the consolidated financial position, results of operations and cash flows of the Company and its wholly-owned subsidiaries: Arbitron Holdings Inc., Arbitron Mobile Oy, Astro West LLC, Cardinal North LLC, Ceridian Infotech (India) Private Limited, Arbitron International, LLC, and Arbitron Technology Services India Private Limited. For the year ended December 31, 2011, the consolidated financial statements reflected the results of operations and cash flows of Arbitron Mobile Oy and Cardinal North LLC incurred subsequent to the acquisition of Zokem Oy during the month ended July 31, 2011. All significant intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. The Company has one segment which meets the quantitative thresholds for being a reportable segment. Certain prior years amounts in the notes to the consolidated financial statements have been reclassified to conform to the current period’s presentation.

Description of Business

Arbitron is a leading media and marketing information services firm primarily serving radio, advertisers, advertising agencies, cable and broadcast television, retailers, out-of-home media, online media, mobile media, telecommunications providers, and print media. Our main service is:

• estimating the size and composition of radio audiences in local markets and of audiences to network radio programming and commercials in the United States.

We also provide services in the following areas:

• estimating the size and composition of audiences to media other than radio, including mobile media, television viewed out-of-home, and content distributed on multiple platforms; we also analyze the behavior of smartphone and tablet users;

• providing qualitative information about consumers, including their lifestyles, shopping patterns, and use of media; and

• providing software to access and analyze media audience and marketing information data.