Pittsburgh's TV market rank to drop
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The Nielsen Co. released its list of television market ranks for 2011, and Pittsburgh will fall from No. 23 to No. 24 next year. That's not surprising because of the market that surpassed Pittsburgh: Charlotte, N.C., a city growing faster than Pittsburgh.
Year to year, the number of television households in Pittsburgh grew from 1,154,950 to 1,160,820, an increase of 5,870 homes. Charlotte grew by 18,270 homes to surpass Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh's declining market rank has been under way for decades. In 1998, Pittsburgh was market No. 19. By 2008, Pittsburgh had fallen to No. 23.
What does this mean? Not much, other than a bruised ego in the world of TV market ranks and perhaps some difficulty when local news operations try to attract more seasoned talent.
In 2008 when Pittsburgh fell from No. 22 to No. 23, local TV station general managers said dropping out of the Top 10 or Top 20 might make a difference when it comes to ad sales, but remaining somewhere in the 20s won't have an impact.
In 2011, Raleigh, N.C., will be in Pittsburgh's rear-view mirror at No. 25 with 1,131,310 TV households, an increase of 23,490 households from 2010, according to Nielsen. About 29,510 TV homes separate Pittsburgh and Raleigh.
Baltimore, 2011's No. 26 market, grew by 15,190 TV homes to 1,108,360, still 52,460 TV homes smaller than Pittsburgh.
Other major TV markets seeing a year-to-year rank decline include Denver (No. 16 to No. 17), Indianapolis (No. 25 to No. 27) and Salt Lake City (No. 31 to No. 32). Markets on the rise include Miami (No. 17 to No. 16), Baltimore (No. 27 to No. 26) and Kansas City (No. 32 to No. 31).
Nationally, the number of TV households in the United States will increase by 1 million to 115.9 million homes in 2011. In people terms, Nielsen estimates an increase of 2 million people year-to-year among viewers older than 2 for a total of 294,650,000 people in U.S. homes with television sets.
First Published August 28, 2010 12:00 am
