Growing by Double-Digits for the 2nd Week in a Row and Hitting New Season Highs, "This Week" Turned in its Strongest Numbers in More Than 5 Years

On March 2, 2014, ABC News' "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" ranked No. 1 for the 2nd straight week in both Total Viewers (3.665 million) and Adults 25-54 (1.284 million) , according to Nielsen Media Research. Notably, "This Week" scored its first back-to-back wins in Total Viewers in nearly 16 years (since 4/19/98 and 4/26/98) and more than 4 years in Adults 25-54 (since 8/2/09 and 8/9/09) - based on regular telecasts, beating both CBS' "Face the Nation" and NBC's "Meet the Press."

Growing by double-digits for the 2nd week in a row (3.146 million and 963,000, respectively, for 2/23/14) in both Total Viewers (+16%) and Adults 25-54 (+33%) to hit a new season highs, "This Week" turned in its strongest numbers in more than 5 years - since 1/11/09 and 1/18/09, respectively. Further, "This Week" turned in thetop performance in Adults 25-54 (1.284 million) this season for any public affairs program.

"This Week" outperformed CBS' "Face the Nation" by its largest Total Viewer advantage (329,000) in 1 1/2 years and biggest Adults 25-54 lead (331,000) in nearly 4 years - since 9/2/12 and 6/27/10, respectively .

"This Week" beat NBC's "Meet the Press" by 473,000 Total Viewers and by 338,000 Adults 25-54, leading the NBC program by its largest news demo margin in more than 16 years - since 8/31/97, based on regular telecasts.

"This Week" posted strong year-to-year increases (2.846 million and 854,000, respectively on 3/3/13) in both Total Viewers (+29%) and Adults 25-54 (+50%). In fact, "This Week" has improved on the year-ago Sunday for the last 5 weeks in both measures. The ABC public affairs program was also up the most from its year-earlier telecast compared to CBS' "Face the Nation" (+3%/+17%), NBC's "Meet the Press" (-8%/-4%) and Fox's "Fox News Sunday" (+4%/-7%).

Season to date, " This Week" is up in Total Viewers (+11%) and Adults 25-54 (+7%) versus its year-ago season averages. Growing in both measures for the 2nd year in a row, "This Week" is delivering its strongest performance in 5 years - since the 2008-09 season. In addition, "This Week" is up the most from the same point last season in both Total Viewers and Adults 25-54 versus CBS' "Face the Nation" (+1%/+1%), NBC's "Meet the Press" (-5%/-9%) and Fox's "Fox News Sunday" (flat/-12%).

In addition, "This Week" leads NBC's "Meet the Press" this season in Total Viewers (+7,000), beating the NBC programduring a season for the first time in 17 years - since the 1996-97 season.

Follow "This Week" on Twitter @ThisWeekABC.

Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI (Total Viewers and Adults 25-54); Live+SD for 3/2/14, 2/23/14and 3/3/13 or as dated. Most Current: 2013-2014 Season (9/23/13 - 3/2/14) and 2012-2013 Season (9/24/12 - 3/3/13).

- ABC -