‘Miss America’ ratings the best in nearly a decade

Credit: David Becker/Getty Images

Last night’s Miss America Pageant, which saw Miss New York, Mallory Hagan, ascend to the title, scored the pageant’s best ratings since 2004.

The final half hour of the pageant saw some 8.3 million viewers tune-in for the tail-end of the competition, culminating in the announcement of the winner, according to the early numbers from Nielsen. That final half-hour scored a 2.0 rating with a 5 share among adults 18-49, TV’s key demographic. For the night, the pageant averaged 7.1 million viewers, which translates to an increase of 6% over last year’s ceremony. This helped ABC to become the top non-sports network among viewers in the key demo during that airing period. Viewership grew by 43% between the first half-hour and the last, making this the most-watched Miss America in close to a decade.

The pageant’s stiffest competition was the NFC Divisional Playoff game on FOX, which won the night overall, and an overrun of the AFC Divisional Playoffs on CBS.

Credit: Entertainment Weekly