Atlantic City, NJ – March 30, 2007 - The Miss America Organization announced today that it will seek a new television partner for the 2008 Pageant. Over the past two years, the Miss America Pageant has garnered strong ratings and demographic success on cable and looks forward to building on that success with a new partner.
The Miss America Organization's Chairman of the Board, Sam Haskell, III stated, "We have reorganized and reinvigorated the Miss America brand, as well as our overall operations so that our 86 year tradition can be presented in a much bigger way. Our track record is terrific, ratings and demographics of the past two Pageant telecasts over multiple airings have significantly increased the Pageant’s overall reach.”
Haskell continued, “We are also thrilled to announce that Don Mischer, will once again be joining us to produce a spectacular 2008 Pageant. His impressive career includes producing Barbra Streisand’s Millennium television event, the Emmy Awards, and the Ceremonies of the Centennial Olympic Games. He also produced and directed the 2007 SuperBowl halftime events and has won 13 Primetime Emmy Awards for directing and producing. In addition, the Aladdin/Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas has expressed an interest in an on-going relationship with the Miss America Organization.”
The Pageant’s previous relationship with television partner, CMT, enabled the Miss America Pageant to reach a new segment of audience and provided the Miss America Organization with the entrée into cable where the overall ratings have soared, giving CMT its two highest rated programs in its history with the 2006 and 2007 Pageants.
Art McMaster, President and CEO stated, "We are grateful for our two year run on CMT which successfully led us into cable television and enabled us to achieve our goal to attract more viewers. We were able to achieve the highest overall ratings in recent years for the Miss America Pageant by reaching over 36 million viewers over multiple telecasts. As we reach this new turning point, we are embarking on discussions with potential new television partners to further expand our new marketing efforts and to ultimately broaden our viewership. The 2008 Miss America Pageant will mark a new path for our Pageant that has been televised since 1954 and which remains a great American tradition."
The 2007 Miss America pageant drew a significantly younger audience than last year, increasing its 18- to 24-year-old audience by 257 percent. During its initial airing from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Monday night (Jan. 29), CMT placed second in all of basic cable in that age demographic. The premiere of the pageant averaged 2.4 million viewers, making it CMT's most-watched telecast since last year's airing. Cumulatively, the pageant reached 7.2 million total viewers in its two airings on Monday night.*
The first network broadcast of the Miss America Pageant was in 1954 as America witnessed the multi-talented Lee Meriwether crowned on national TV. This year, Miss America 2007 Lauren Nelson was crowned at the Aladdin/Planet Hollywood Theater in Las Vegas, Nevada. The venue also hosted the 2006 Miss America Pageant.
The Miss America Organization is one of the nation's leading achievement programs and the world's largest provider of scholarship assistance for young women. Last year, the Miss America Organization and its state and local organizations made available more than $45 million in cash and scholarship assistance. For more information, go to www.missamerica.org.
*Nielsen Media Research
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