On October 6, 2013, ABC News' "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" averaged 3.401 million Total Viewers to rank as the No. 1 public affairs program on Sunday, according to Nielsen Media Research. "This Week" outdelivered NBC's "Meet the Press" by its largest Total Viewer advantage (+446,000) in more than 16 years - since 9/21/97 based on regular telecasts. In addition, "This Week" beat CBS' "Face the Nation" by 190,000 Total Viewers, its biggest overall viewer lead in more than 1 year - since 9/9/12.

In Adults 25-54, "This Week" outdrew CBS' "Face the Nation" by 92,000 news demo viewers.

"This Week" surged on its week-ago season premiere (2.731 million and 785,000, respectively, on 9/29/13) in both Total Viewers (+25%) and Adults 25-54 (+26%). In fact, the ABC public affairs program drew its largest overall audience more than 4 1/2 years and strongest news demo performance in more than 1 year - since 2/22/09 and 10/7/12, respectively.

For the 2nd week in a row this season and the last 5 Sundays overall , "This Week" improved on its Total Viewer audience (+12% - 3.024 million on 10/7/12) compared to its year ago telecast.

Two weeks into the 2013-14 season, " This Week" is up in Total Viewers (+9%) versus its year-ago season average, delivering its most-watched season in 5 years - since the 2008-09 season. Growing for the 2nd straight year, "This Week" is improving the most over the previous season in Total Viewers compared to CBS' "Face the Nation" (+5%), NBC's "Meet the Press" (-2%) and Fox's "Fox News Sunday" (-24%). In addition, "This Week" is leading "Meet the Press" by its largest overall viewer season advantage (+130,000) in 18 years - since the 1995-96 season.

Follow "This Week" on Twitter @ThisWeekABC.

Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI (Total Viewers and Adults 25-54); Live+SD for 10/6/13, 9/29/13 & 10/7/12 or as dated. 2013-2014 Season (9/23 - 10/6/13) and 2012-2013 Season (9/24 - 10/7/12).

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