Televizzle.org

Nielsen Media Research tracks a number of things having to do with just how badly we want our TV, and one of those things they keep tabs on is the size of the television markets in the United States. This is mostly so that the networks can sell their advertising. You see, if your city is in the Top 25, it (and, by extension, you) will get more attention than if it is not.

In any case, last week Nielsen released a list of the largest television markets in the country, and as it turns out, Charlotte is now number 26 on the list (and rising fast). This means that we've passed San Diego and we're just 15,000 TV households out of the top 25 (that spot is currently held by Indianapolis). While this sounds like an impressive number, it's actually not that much, as we're up 25,000 over last year's estimates. Hey, maybe Charlotte is a world-class city after all!

It's interesting that they didn't mention those of you who have pulled the plug. Maybe the problem there is that they don't have an easy way to track what you're watching. Or at least a way to aggregate it. I'm sure that will come.

Update September 6, 2006: In an update to the statistics, Charlotte is listed at number 16 among African American households, while Charlotte is number 32 among Asian households and number 43 among Hispanic households.

For those of you in Charlotte who like to look down at Raleigh, you can continue to do so on the overall basis as Charlotte's 26 outshines Raleigh's 29. But in the racial breakdown, Raleigh wins hands-down - they win the African American market, number 12 to number 16, Asian market, number 38 to number 43 and the Hispanic market, number 28 to number 32.