Television ratings soared for the 2013 Miss America Competition on Saturday, January 12, which achieved the highest ratings in nine years. Sam Haskell, chairman of the board for The Miss America Organization, announced, “The 2013 Miss America Competition achieved the best network ratings since 2004, and I would like to thank our partners at ABC for supporting our creation of the format for this year's telecast. We were positioned opposite Fox's high-rated primetime NFC Divisional Playoff Game (Green Bay Packers vs. San Francisco 49ers) and an NFL overrun-fueled CBS (AFC Divisional Playoffs) on Saturday, plus the NY Net's 9 to 11 p.m. broadcast. The 2013 Miss America Competition grew its overall audience year to year and made ABC the number one nonsports network in the time period with total viewers and adults 18 to 49.”

Art McMaster, MAO president and CEO added, “We are grateful for Tall Pony Productions, Chris Harrison, Brooke Burke Charvet, our distinguished panel of judges, and, of course, our contestant class of 2013. Together, we were able to increase our overall audience (more than six percent) for the second straight year on ABC, and we delivered the program's most-watched broadcast in years.”

Miss America also set new records in the social media world and enjoyed being number one on Twitter on the night of the competition. And, as of Friday, January 18, the MAO YouTube channel has had nearly 3.7 million video views since it was launched in 2009. 

As MAO proudly announces television ratings, it also would like to congratulate former Miss New York Mallory Hagan, who won the Miss America 2013 title, and a $50,000 scholarship from Amway.

Mallory has already embarked on her year of service, focusing on the importance of education while supporting The Children's Miracle Network Hospitals and using her voice to create awareness on her personal platform, Stop It Now: Child Sexual Abuse Prevention.

Source and photo: MAO