ABC's Miss America Pageant Surges 13% Year to Year Against the NFL Playoffs

Up against CBS' monster NFL AFC Divisional Playoff Game (Denver Broncos-New England Patriots) and an NFL playoff overrun-fueled Fox on Saturday night, ABC's 9-11pm broadcast of The 2012 Miss America Pageant grew year to year and made it the dominant #1 non-sports network in the time period with Total Viewers and Adults 18-49.

· Building steadily throughout its 2-hour telecast, The Miss America Pageant's audience jumped by 2.8 million viewers and by 47% from its first half-hour to its final half-hour. In fact during its final half-hour from 10:30-11pm, The Miss America Pageant drew an average audience of 8.0 million viewers and earned a 2.2 rating, 6 share with young adults.

· Excluding only its high-rated 2011 New Year's Eve programming, ABC scored its best non-sports Adult 18-49 rating in the 2-hour time period in more than 1 year - since 12/25/10.

· Despite the big NFL competition, The Miss America Pageant increased its overall audience and surged by 13% in Adults 18-49 over last year's broadcast, marking the program's top numbers since 2004.