The Media Rating Council has accredited Arbitron Portable People Meter ratings in five additional markets, and voted to continue accreditation in nine additional markets.

The MRC is composed of radio, TV, print and Internet companies, as well as advertisers, ad agencies and trade associations. Its goal is to ensure measurement services are valid, reliable and effective.

The MRC has accredited the average-quarter-hour monthly PPM ratings data for Los Angeles, Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla., Baltimore, Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif. and San Antonio, Texas. 

Three of the markets — Los Angeles, Baltimore and San Antonio, Texas — are being granted MRC accreditation for the first time.

Two markets — Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif. and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla. — are regaining accreditation, which the MRC had withdrawn in January.

That brings the total number of MRC-accredited PPM markets to 14 out of 48 total PPM markets.

Arbitron EVP Service Innovation and Chief Research Officer Gregg Linder said the company is pleased yet also recognizes there’s still work to be done.

MRC accreditation typically takes years and its members do not discuss the details of the process other than to say in general, previous PPM market accreditation losses have been related to response rates.