Before the spring ratings period begins on Thursday, Nielsen has updated the market rankings, with a change in the top five.
Dallas has now surpassed San Francisco as the fourth largest market, according to Nielsen. With the slip, San Francisco drops to fifth.
Other changes include Miami/Fort Lauderdale moving up to 11th, changing places with Seattle/Tacoma.
In the top 50 markets, other changes featured:
- Now #16 Tampa/St. Petersburg (up from #17)
- Now #18 San Diego (up from #19)
- Now #19 Denver (down from #18)
- Now #20 Charlotte (up from #21)
- Now #21 Long Island (down from #20)
- Now #22 Baltimore (up from #23)
- Now #23 Portland (down from #22)
- Now #28 Austin (up from #29)
- Now #29 Sacramento (down from #28)
- Now #35 Raleigh/Durham (up from #37)
- Now #36 Cleveland (down from #35)
- Now #37 Columbus (down from #36)
- Now #39 Nashville (up from #40)
- Now #40 San Jose (down from #39)
- Now #44 Jacksonville (up from #46)
- Now #45 Providence (down from #44)
- Now #46 Norfolk/Virginia Beach/Newport News (down from #45)
- Now #48 West Palm Beach/Boca Raton (up from #49)
Three other noticeable drops outside the top 50 included Lousiville falling from #55 to #58, Memphis dropping from market #51 to #52, and Hartford shifting to market #55, down from #54, according to Radio Insight.
The announcement of the market re-rankings comes on the heels of Nielsen leaving three diary markets behind. #99 Greenville/New Bern/Jacksonville, North Carolina, #109 Visalia, California, and #214 Sunbury/Selinsgrove/Lewisburg, Pennsylvania will no longer be rated by the service. However, Eastlan Ratings has expanded to the Greenville/New Bern/Jacksonville market, insisting its decision to enter the market was not influenced by Nielsen’s decision to exit.
