As Florida's population continues to decline in wake of a recession, four Florida television markets, including Tampa-St. Petersburg, will be dropping a notch in the Nielsen Media Research market rankings for 2010.
The Tampa-St. Petersburg TV market is dropping from 13th to 14th place because Nielsen projects a loss of 16,350 TV households during this year.
The ranking for 2010 lists Tampa-St. Petersburg at 1,805,810 TV homes down from 1,822,160 this year.
Miami, Fort Myers and Tallahassee also drop a notch in the rankings due to population declines.
The change in the national Nielsen rankings may not have much economic impact on Tampa area TV stations because national advertisers tend to place commercials in blocks such as the top 10 markets, or the top 15 markets, or top 20 markets.
The top 10 TV markets will remain the same as this season.
Moving up in 2010, are Seattle, from 14th to 13th, and Denver from 18th to 16th.
New Orleans had the largest percentage increase among all markets, up 5.2 percent from last year, and moves up two ranks from 53rd to 51st as former residents return to the city and Census Bureau estimates are adjusted
New York added the most homes of any market (plus 59,710) while Waco, Texas, had the largest change in ranks, moving up from 94th to 89th.
2010 Nielsen rankings and number of TV homes
1. New York, 7,493,530
2. Los Angeles, 5,659,170
3. Chicago, 3,501,010
4. Philadelphia, 2,955,190
5. Dallas-Fort Worth, 2,544,410
6. San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, 2,503,400
7. Boston (Manchester), 2,410,180
8. Atlanta, 2,387,520
9. Washington, D.C. (Hagerstown), 2,335,040
10. Houston, 2,123,460
11. Detroit, 1,890,220
12. Phoenix (Prescott), 1,873,930
13. Seattle-Tacoma, 1,833,990
14. Tampa-St. Petersburg (Sarasota), 1,805,810
15. Minneapolis-St. Paul, 1,732,050
16. Denver, 1,539,380
17. Miami-Fort Lauderdale, 1,538,090
18. Cleveland-Akron (Canton), 1,520,750
19. Orlando-Daytona Beach, 1,455,620
20. Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto, 1,404,580