Does Podcast listening count in Arbitron?

It sure should.

But I doubt it does.

If you download a podcast from a radio station and listen to it, then according to the rules of Arbitron are you “listening to a station”? And am I supposed to write down the “station” I’m listening to … when I actually listen to it? Won’t this completely screw up the way you read your numbers by daypart?

And don’t tell me “oh, only a few people are listening to radio via podcasting” because:

A) That number is only going to grow, and B) How few quarter-hours would you like Arbitron to ignore? 10? 100? 1000?

Even without Arbitron credit, podcasting is too good a trial mechanism to pass up. But if Arbitron can’t count all the listening – even the time-shifted kind – then what’s the point of measuring?

What does Arbitron plan to do about this and on what time-frame?

And finally, will meters capture podcast-based listening?