Wednesday, August 25

Do you know your DMA's?

Capstone Bloggers! Do you know your DMAs?

Neilsen Media Research breaks the 210 television markets in the country into Designated Market Areas (DMAs) based on population. The new DMA list is out and it looks like San Francisco is no longer a top five market. Boston (which now includes the Manchester, New Hampshire, TV audience-- served by former Imes station WMUR) edged out Frisco which dropped to #6.

The new list shows Pittsburgh holding at DMA #22 (when I worked at WPXI it was at at 18). Youngstown seems to have slipped down a notch to 102. Last year it was listed at 101. A lot of people in the business mesaure their career goals/success and pay scale/benefits based on the DMAs. DMAs are often seen as the career ladder you climb in the local TV scene.


Arbitron manages the same kind of market ranking system for radio stations, but instead of DMA's you refer to ADIs (Area of Dominant Influence). I want to stress to my students how important it is to understand these industry terms and not to mix them up in conversation. Such a snafu reflects poorly on your comprehension of how the business works. Using DMA and ADI correctly promotes yourself to potential employers as being industry savvy.

So, when you start developing short and long term career goal statements, make sure you build in something about what DMA or ADI you aspire to break into as an entry level employee out of college and what DMA or ADI you'd like to reach in the next 5-10 years.

While the lists are widely discussed via online resources, they are proprietory information owned by those two companies. However, publications such as the Broadcast Yearbook are available-- Westminster's McGill Library maintains the Broadcast Yearbooks as a reference resource.