Dictionary of Marketing Terms: metro area
metro area
metropolitan area that is the central core of a market. The metro areas throughout the United States are based on designations of the federal government as prepared by the Office of Management and Budget from the most recent census. A metro area, named a metropolitan statistical area by the government, always includes a city of 50,000 population or more as the central core (from whence all broadcast originates), the county in which it is located, and the surrounding counties that share a high degree of economic and social integration with the central core city. Metro areas are used by the various rating services, such as Nielson Media Research, in the computation of ratings and shares.
