The number of US television households is actually down in the new DMA rankings from Nielsen for the 2011-2012 television season. The total number of households in the 210 US markets has slipped to 114.6 million from 115.9 million for the 2010-2011 TV season.
There was only one change in the rankings for the Top 10 markets. Atlanta and Washington, DC flipped places, with DC now DMA #8 and Atlanta #9.
Other changes in the Top 25 include Seattle-Tacoma moving up one slot to #12 and bumping Phoenix to #13; Pittsburgh moving up one to #23, Raleigh-Durham moving up one to #24; and Charlotte slipping two slots to #25.
The biggest moves were further down in market size. El Paso, TX jumped six slots to #91 and Jackson, TN moved up six to #176.
The biggest drop in market rank was for the Tri-Cities, TN-VA market, down five slots to #96.
Click here for the new rankings from Nielsen (5-page pdf).