MSA vs DMA: What’s the difference?
Media planners and marketers should understand the difference between DMAs and MSAs to most effectively incorporate these definitions into local broadcast campaigns and optimization strategies. Keep reading to find out more.
To identify them by local area, some media companies are affiliated with a Designated Market Area (DMA) or a Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA).
ZIP code matching is not available in national newspapers (such as USA Today) or online media; anyone can participate in this alert. The MSA is commonly used in daily newspapers. The DMA is used instead if the information does not include the MSA.
- DMA: Designated Market Area
- MSA: Metropolitan Statistical Area
DMA – Designated Market Area
A Designated Market Area (DMA) is a geographic area of the US that represents certain TV markets defined by and updated yearly by Nielsen Media Research. You can target one or more of the US’s 210 DMAs. A DMA is a ‘Designated Market Area,’ also known as a media market, and is frequently used in television, according to Nielsen Research.
A media market, broadcast market, designated market area (DMA) ,media region, Television Market Area (FCC term), or simply market is a territory where people can get the same (or comparable) television and radio station offers, and may also include newspapers and online material. They may correspond with or encompass one or more urban areas, but rural areas with few large population centers may also be recognized as markets.
What are the Top DMAs in the US?
The DMA rank is a statistic used to assess media markets based on the size of their TV and radio viewership. The data assists marketers in justifying how and when to purchase advertisements, as well as PR professionals in Targeting certain geographic locations for news and awareness-related outreach.
There are 210 Designated Market Areas (DMAs) listed by the 2022 Nielsen rankings. Here are the top 10:
- New York, NY
- Los Angeles, CA
- Chicago, IL
- Philadelphia, PA
- Dallas-Fort Worth, TX
- San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, CA
- Atlanta, GA
- Houston, TX
- Washington, DC
- Boston, MA
Broadcast, both TV and radio, continues to be an important component of most marketing initiatives. Nielsen provides precise, dependable audience metrics across all 210 demographic market segments in the United States. The Nielsen DMA rankings help in distribution and targeting. The Nielsen rankings provide information to ensure that your client’s targeting the right intended audience, whether you plan paid or earned advertising.
Broadcast media planners often use traffic metrics from a certain DMA to determine how well a campaign performs.
MSA – Metro Survey Areas
Arbitron Metro Survey Areas or MSAs correspond to the federal government’s Metropolitan Areas. They are geographical regions with high population densities at their center and close economic ties throughout an area. MSAs are used by radio media planners and buyers because each area usually includes the cities for the majority of the local radio stations and the counties where these cities are located. Click here to see Metro Data Maps.
A Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) is a geographical area defined by the federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that represents the metropolitan area of a city. You can choose from one of the 392 MSAs in the United States. An MSA, or ‘Metropolitan Statistical Area,’ is a federally defined geographic area that includes a city and its nearby suburbs.
Markets
Nielsen Audio’s market name is indicative of the market’s survey area. Market names usually match the names assigned by the federal government’s Office of Management and Budget for the Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area (PMSA), Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), or Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area (CMSA) (OMB). Nielsen Audio may, however, change the OMB designation to better represent market choice or industry usage.
The conformance or divergence of Nielsen Audio from OMB definitions is stated in the Special Notices and Station Activities portion of each Radio Market Report. Because changes in market definition can affect trend studies, it is also mentioned if any Metro counties were added or eliminated over the periods included in the Target Listener Trends portion of the Report.
For survey areas without an official MSA, PMSA, or CMSA classification, the market name may comprise up to three metro areas given in sequential order from largest to lowest estimated population. Nielsen Audio may, however, change its name to better reflect consumer demand or industrial usage.
Market Defined
A Nielsen Audio radio market can have up to three geographical segments:
- Total Survey Area (TSA)
- Metro Survey Area (Metro or MSA)
- Designated Market Area (DMA)
These markets are made up of sampling units that, in most cases, equate to one county or the equivalent, but may also include a section of a county, known as a split county. A map of the counties and portions of a county that compose the survey area or areas represented in that market is included in each Nielsen Audio Radio Market Report. The map is keyed to reflect which counties comprise the Metro, TSA, and DMA, where applicable.
Ad Targeting
DMA is the most common and often preferred means of Geo-targeting an ad campaign. In the realm of digital advertising, Google DoubleClick, arguably the largest ad-serving platform, allows users to Geo target ads via Country, Region, City, Zip Code, or “US Metro Areas”, which is in fact DMA targeting. In order to achieve accurate MSA targeting for digital ad-serving it is recommended that one converts the desired MSA markets into a relevant City or Zip Code list.
- States: You can choose to target one or more of the 50 states in the United States.
- Counties: You can choose to target one or more specific counties in the United States.
- Cities: You can choose any city in the United States. Small businesses that provide actual services, such as restaurants, auto dealers, retail stores, real estate services, or those marketing an event, are the most likely to employ this.
Neighborhoods Targeting
Neighborhood location-based targeting allows advertisers to target specific geographical boundaries based on the mix of visiting patterns and audience groups, delivering a scalable and personalized mobile location marketing solution.
On-Premise Targeting
Take geo-targeting to a new level with on-premises mobile location targeting. Blueprinted locations allow us to determine whether a person is in a store, a parking lot, or within walking distance of a location. All of this translates to incredibly precise mobile targeting, allowing you to rapidly influence current and future actions.
Targeting based on proximity
With proximity targeting, you can reach customers in real-time when they are near Blueprinted venues. Proximity targeting allows you to build a geofence around a given location in order to message or affect nearby customer behavior.
