Modern TV, Archaic Boundaries: The DMA Disconnect
The South Central US, according to Nielsen - rivers, time zones & state borders apparently optional.
Nielsen's Designated Market Area (DMA) construct has been the foundation of local television economics and regulatory policy since the 1950s. Originally devised to define which counties belonged to which TV markets — based on over-the-air broadcast signal reach and household viewing patterns — it served a functional purpose in the analog broadcast era. But in today’s world of streaming, mobile viewing, personalized advertising, and advanced digital broadcast technology, the DMA has become an increasingly outdated and inadequate tool.
Yet it continues to anchor not just advertising sales but also FCC regulatory frameworks, including key concepts like retransmission consent, must-carry obligations, station ownership limits, and the interpretation of “localism” in programming mandates. If the FCC is serious about both modernizing regulation and enforcing greater local relevance in media, then a long-overdue rethink of the DMA system must come first.
The country’s 210 DMAs were carved decades ago when media consumption was tethered to a rooftop antenna and a handful of VHF signals. These boundaries were, in effect, regional clusters where Nielsen could reliably measure who was watching what — and advertisers could buy access to the viewers of specific local stations. But fast forward to 2025, and the assumptions that once justified this model have all but collapsed.
Metropolitan areas have since sprawled across DMA lines. Suburbs that used to be farmland are now population centers with their own distinct identities and economic interests — ones often ignored by the "local" TV news delivered from a far-off DMA hub city. Conversely, many smaller towns remain trapped in oversized DMAs dominated by an urban core that doesn’t reflect their interests at all.
Meanwhile, the media landscape has exploded with hyper-targeted, data-driven content delivery. Through IP-based platforms and emerging broadcast technologies like ATSC 3.0, it's now technically possible to tailor news, weather, sports, and advertising to neighborhoods and even ZIP+4 clusters — not just counties or cities. Geolocation, audience segmentation, and real-time data have become standard in the digital ad world, but are still foreign concepts in the DMA-based broadcast ad market.
This mismatch between capability and regulation creates inefficiencies across the board. TV stations are required to serve the “local needs and interests” of viewers in their “designated market” — yet those markets are defined by anachronistic lines that don’t reflect modern communities. Advertisers wanting to reach specific populations — say, affluent Hispanic families in a fast-growing exurb — are stuck buying broad DMA-wide inventory that includes thousands of irrelevant households.
Even more concerning is the growing disconnect between the FCC’s renewed emphasis on “localism” and its continued reliance on the legacy DMA framework. If the goal is to promote journalism that reflects and serves communities more meaningfully, then defining what constitutes a “local” community must evolve as well. This is especially true if the FCC proceeds with loosening ownership restrictions and enabling greater consolidation under the argument that scale can support more robust local programming. Without better definitions of localism, such moves risk undermining the very thing they claim to strengthen.
The opportunity here is not just to tear down an outdated system, but to build something more accurate and useful in its place. A modernized mapping of media markets could leverage ZIP code-level data, audience behavior, and even commuting patterns to define meaningful localities. ATSC 3.0’s capabilities — particularly its IP backbone and targeted broadcast (and datacasting) capabilities — offer a way to deliver content and advertising precisely to those refined regions. This opens the door to more relevant local programming, smarter ad buys, and deeper civic engagement.
To be clear, replacing the DMA construct won’t be easy. The system is deeply entrenched in media buying, ratings measurement, and geographical precedent. But that’s all the more reason to start the conversation now — before new regulatory frameworks are built atop a foundation that no longer holds.
It’s not just about keeping up with technology; it’s about aligning our definitions of “local” with the real world. Policymakers, broadcasters, and advertisers alike should demand a better map — one that reflects how people actually live, watch, and engage in their communities today. Anything less is a missed opportunity, and a tacit decision to keep pretending that the TV landscape of the 1950s still applies.
Local News To Peruse
Gray Media, E.W. Scripps Announce FCC Rule-Breaking TV Station Swaps - Ted Hearn [Policyband]
Fox O&O Boss: We Need to Get Bigger - Scott Jones [FTV Live]
Six Industry Groups Tell FCC To Reject NAB’s ATSC 3.0 Transition Plan - Dak Dillon [NCS | NewscastStudio]
The Advertisers Spending Big In West Palm Beach Just To Reach Trump - Maggie Severns & Anthony DeBarros [Wall Street Journal]
Monumental-ViewLift Venture To Aid Teams With Local Media Rights - Jason Clinkscales [Sportico]
KCBS/KCAL Plans More Local TV, and How It Will Use a New AR/VR Studio - Michael Schneider [Variety]
Broadcasters Push AI To New Levels - Fred Dawson [TVTech]
No Camera, No Crew, No Problem — Why The Next Award-Winning Creator At Your TV Station Might Not Work In The Newsroom - Jon Accarrino [TVNewsCheck]
