Of Nielsen’s 210 Designated Market Areas, 51 increased their positions, while 70 dropped in the new 2017-18 rankings. There were five changes in the top 10 markets — Washington, Houston and Atlanta each advancing one spot, knocking San Francisco and Boston down one place each. Of all the moves, the largest was Yakima, Wash.’s eight-spot rise to 114, with Norfolk, Va., posting the biggest drop, falling five slots to 47.
According to Nielsen’s latest Local Television Household Universe estimates for the just-started 2017-18 television season, there were 121 changes among Nielsen’s 210 Designated Market Areas, with 51 cities moving up and 70 sliding lower. The new rankings took effect Sept. 23.
In these new rankings there were nine changes among the top 20 markets:
- Washington moved up one spot, from 7 to 6, with 2,492,170 homes
- Houston climbed from 8 to 7 (2,467,140)
- San Francisco dropped from 6 to 8 (2,451,640)
- Atlanta rose from 10 to 9 (2,449,460)
- Boston dipped from 9 to 10 (2,425,440)
- Phoenix moved up from 12 to 11 (1,919,959)
- Seattle rose to 12 from 14 a year ago (1,880,750)
- Tampa fell from 11 to 13 (1,879,760)
- Detroit slipped from 13 to 14 (1,779,380)
Most of the moves were up or down a single slot; 42 changed by two or more places. The biggest change was Yakima, Wash.’s eight-spot rise to 114. The largest drop was recorded by Norfolk, Va., which fell five places to 47.
The total number of TV homes is 112,143,960, a drop of 2.3% from last year’s 114,695,130 (the total doesn’t include broadband-only homes).
