TV Nation: 112.8 million strong

There are 1.3% more of us in TV Nation than last season, per Nielsen Media Research. Nielsen estimates  that there'll be 112.8 million TV households in the U.S. by January 2008, a healthy spike from last season's 111.4 million TV-friendly households. The total number of viewers aged 2 and up is estimated at 286 million, a 1% gain from last season. Much to advertisers' chagrin, baby boomers in the 55-69 are the fastest-growing demo group, up 3.8% to 32.8 million. The largest demo group overall remains the coveted adults 18-49 skew, projected to grow 0.3% to 131 million strong. The persons 12-34 demo is flat year-to-year at 28.4 million, while the teen contingent (12-17s) is the only demo projected to decline -- 0.4% -- to 24.7 million by the start of the new year.

On the market-by-market growth front, Dallas-Ft. Worth has knocked San Francisco out as the nation's fifth-largest TV market, with Frisco dropping to No. 6. Atlanta and Washington, D.C. have also flopped spots, with Atlanta now ranking No. 8 and D.C. dropping to No. 9. (The rest of the top 10 remains the same). Indianapolis has been edged out of the top 25 by Charlotte, N.C.

(For numbers geeks who love this stuff, here's the Nielsen press release with all the breakdowns.)

(Thanks to www.vintagetvsets.com for the above pic of a truly vintage 1946 RCA model.)