Nielsen Media Research said Friday it estimates the total number of television households within the U.S. will be 114.9 million for the 2009-10 season.
That's an increase of 400,000 homes from last year -- the smallest increase in the last 10 years, according to the research company. In addition, Nielsen estimates that the number of people age 2 and above in U.S. TV households will increase slightly, to 292 million.
The top 10 designated market areas, or DMAs, will remain in the same order for the season. In the next 10 that make up the top 20, Seattle moves up from 14 to 13, and Denver from 18 to 16. Tampa, Miami and Cleveland are each down one rank.
Nielsen's full list of 210 DMA rankings and universe estimates is available here: http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/2009-2010-dma-ranks.pdf
The company said there weren't any new markets to enter the Top 50 or 100, but called out several rank changes.
Four Florida markets -- Tampa, Miami, Ft. Myers and Tallahassee -- are down, which Nielsen said was partially due to "declines in domestic migration."
New Orleans has the largest percentage increase among all markets, with TV households up 5.2% from last year, which pushed it up two spots in the ranks from 53 to 51 as former residents return to the city. Other increases in the Sun Belt region include Tucson (two to 66), Shreveport (two to 82), and Charleston, S.C. (two to 97).
The Midwest saw several decreases, including Columbus, Ohio (down two to 34), Grand Rapids, Mich. (two to 41), Flint, Mich. (two to 68) and South Bend, Ind. (two to 91).
