jero85

Charlotte CSA is now over 3.3 M per the 2020, which means it's nearly 1 million population difference between it and the Raleigh-Durham CSA. The Unifour area had already tied economically themselves to Charlotte but merged into it officially by the US Census. Lake Norman development along with commuting between the two areas solidified it. I have ample knowledge of Sacramento due to family, like Raleigh it's DMA is tied to Modesto and Stockton in the a Central Valley. Sacramento is also not keeping up with Charlotte either. Charlotte is projected to be continued to accelerate in growth due to the the simultaneously growth from urban infill and rapid growth of its surrounding counties and the satellite cities of Concord, Kannapolis, Rock Hill, and Gastonia, Hickory. CBS never had news offices here. They do have sports bureaus here. NBC News Channel is in the same complex as WCNC. Its arrangement is similar to how WXIA is housing the NBC News Atlanta bureau. NASCAR, MLS & college sports programming are why FOX has its FS1 HQs in University City. Similar reasons with ESPN. I don't think it's a battle between the two areas. It's just becoming more apparent that Charlotte is more dominant area because it wasn't trying to seperate itself from other markets in the past.

Charlotte has the potential to be a major top 20 market in its own based on its rapidly growing metro. Otherwise Charlotte would have long fallen & stayed behind Raleigh-Durham-Fayetteville market in the DMA rankings. Also the Raleigh-Durham market has way more cities over 50+ miles away including Fayetteville, Rocky Mount, and Goldsboro in it to match Charlotte. The Charlotte market is the Charlotte CSA (which the main MSA counties in NC & SC and the newly added Hickory-Morganton-Lenior portion of the CSA) by itself. CBS, NBC, ESPN, & Fox have had studios, news and/or sports bureaus in Charlotte since the 1980s. l wouldn't be surprised if Charlotte doesn't start to break out rankings past Raleigh-Durham-Fayetteville in the next few years.

Charlotte will remain the largest DMA in the Carolinas.

No it has not ever. They are next to one another in ranks now, but Charlotte is still a faster growing region.

The other market you are referring to is Charlotte, and no it won't overtake Charlotte ever. Charlotte DMA is actually growing much faster than Raleigh/Durham/Fayetteville DMA, and has actually sped up in growing in the past year. Actually, the Charlotte DMA will be in the top 20 in the next year.

I think Denver, like Atlanta and Salt Lake City, are super DMAs, which help with their Nielsen rankings. As a result, they seem to be markets where households, even in the rural areas of those states, gravitate towards their respective cities.