ABC's THIS WEEK is No. 1 for 3rd Quarter in Key Demo

ABC News' "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" ranked No. 1 for the 3rd quarter 2014 in Adults 25-54 (851,000), based on Most Current Data from Nielsen Media Research. After also winning 2Q14, "This Week" scored its first back-to-back news demo wins in more than 20 years - since 1Q94 and 2Q94, respectively. In addition, "This Week" turned in its first 3rd quarter Adults 25-54 victory in 17 years - since 3Q97. "This Week" turned in a dominant performance during the quarter in ranking No. 1 in the key adult news demo in 10 of the 12 weeks.

eading NBC's "Meet the Press" in Adults 25-54 for the 5th straight quarter, "This Week" outdelivered the NBC program by its largest news demo advantage (+158,000) during any quarter in 21 years - since 3Q93. "This Week" led CBS' "Face the Nation" by its biggest Adults 25-54 quarter advantage (+103,000) in nearly 14 years - since 4Q00.

In Total Viewers, "This Week" beat NBC's "Meet the Press" for the 5th quarter in row with its largest overall viewer 3rd quarter advantage (+314,000) 17 years - since 3Q97.

"This Week" improved on the year-ago quarter (2.535 million and 701,000, respectively on 3Q13) in both Total Viewers (+9%) and Adults 25-54 (+21%), turning in its best numbers during a 3rd quarter in 13 years in overall viewers and in 5 years in the key adult news demo - since 3Q01 and 3Q09, respectively. In addition, "This Week" stood as the only public affairs program to grow in both measures compared to CBS' "Face the Nation" (+6%/-1%), NBC's "Meet the Press" (-3%/flat) and Fox's "Fox News Sunday" (+13%/-6%).

September 21, 2014:

"This Week with George Stephanopoulos" won the final telecast of the 2013-14 season in both Total Viewers (3.010 million) and Adults 25-54 (1.014 million) for September 21, 2014, based on Live +Same Day Data from Nielsen Media Research. "This Week" finished the season strong in Adults 25-54 as the ABC public affairs program ranked No. 1 in the key adult news demo in 14 of the final 17 weeks of the season.

For the 2nd straight week, "This Week" built on its week-ago performance (2.889 million and 947,000, respectively on 9/14/14) in both Total Viewers (+4%) and Adults 25-54 (+7%). In fact, "This Week's" final airing of the season stood as the top Adults 25-54 telecast among any of the public affairs programs since March - since 3/30/14 with CBS' "Face the Nation." In addition, "This Week" was the only program to grow week to week in either demo as CBS' "Face the Nation" (-4%/-19%), NBC's "Meet the Press" (-7%/-2%) and Fox's "Fox News Sunday" (-1%/-11%) all lost viewers.

"This Week" improved on the year-ago Sunday (2.909 million and 919,000, respectively, on 9/22/13) in both Total Viewers (+3%) and Adults 25-54 (+10%). "This Week" was also the only public affairs program to grow year-to-year in both measures as CBS' "Face the Nation" (-2%/-4%) and NBC's "Meet the Press" (-12%/-13%) were down, while Fox's "Fox News Sunday" (+7%/-8%) was mixed.

"This Week" outdelivered NBC's "Meet the Press" (2.416 million and 657,000, respectively) by its largest Total Viewer advantage (+594,000) in over 3 months and biggest Adults 25-54 lead (+357,000) in 6 months - since 6/1/14 and 3/1/14, respectively.

2013-14 Season:

For the 2013-14 season, "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" finished in a virtual tie for No. 1 in Adults 25-54 with CBS' "Face the Nation," as only 1,000 news demo viewers separated the two public affairs programs (866,000 vs. 867,000), based on Most Current Data from Nielsen Media Research. With a near first-place finish, "This Week" turned in its most competitive season performance in the key adult news demo in 20 years - since the 1993-94 season.

During the 2013-14 season, "This Week" posted double-digit growth in both Total Viewers (+13%) and Adults 25-54 (+16%) versus last season, based on Most Current Data from Nielsen Media Research. In fact, "This Week" saw increases for the 2nd season in a row to deliver its strongest performance in 5 years - since the 2008-09 season. In addition, "This Week" was up the most from the previous season in both Total Viewers and Adults 25-54 versus CBS' "Face the Nation" (+2%/+1%), NBC's "Meet the Press" (-5%/-6%) and Fox's "Fox News Sunday" (+5%/-9%).

"This Week" led NBC's "Meet the Press" in both Total Viewers (+208,000) and Adults 25-54 (+80,000), beating the NBC program by its largest margins in Total Viewers in 18 years and in the key adult news demo advantage in 21 years - since the 1995-96 and the 1992-93 seasons, respectively.

Jonathan Greenberger is Vice President and Washington Bureau Chief, and also serves as the Executive Producer of "This Week." Robin Sproul serves as Vice President, Public Affairs and Executive-in-Charge of "This Week"

Follow "This Week" on Twitter @ThisWeekABC.

3rd Quarter 2014 TOTAL VIEWERS A25-54 (000)/Rtg

ABC "THIS WEEK" 2,762,000 851,000/0.7

NBC "MEET THE PRESS" 2,448,000 693,000/0.6

CBS "FACE THE NATION" 2,819,000 748,000/0.6

CBS "FACE THE NATION-2" 1,648,000 402,000/0.3

FOX "FOX NEWS SUNDAY" 1,197,000 357,000/0.3

Sunday, September 21, 2014 TOTAL VIEWERS A25-54 (000)/Rtg

ABC "THIS WEEK" 3,010,000 1,014,000/0.8

NBC "MEET THE PRESS" 2,416,000 657,000/0.5

CBS "FACE THE NATION" 2,919,000 736,000/0.6

CBS "FACE THE NATION-2" 1,513,000 326,000/0.3

FOX "FOX NEWS SUNDAY" 1,252,000 374,000/0.3

2013-14 Season TOTAL VIEWERS A25-54 (000)/Rtg

ABC "THIS WEEK" 2,932,000 866,000/0.7

NBC "MEET THE PRESS" 2,724,000 786,000/0.7

CBS "FACE THE NATION" 3,111,000 867,000/0.7

CBS "FACE THE NATION-2" 1,728,000 458,000/0.4

FOX "FOX NEWS SUNDAY" 1,241,000 397,000/0.3

Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI (Total Viewers and Adults 25-54); Live + SD for 9/21/14, 9/14/14and 9/22/13 or as dated. Most Current: 2013-2014 Season (9/23/13 - 9/21/14) and 2012-2013 Season (9/24/12 - 9/22/13). Most Current - 3Q14: 6/30 - 9/21/14. 2Q14: 3/31 - 6/29/14. 3Q13: 7/1 - 9/22/13. Averages based on regular telecasts.

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