Donald Trump found a new home for Miss USA on the little-known Reelz Channel after NBC dumped the pageant because of his comments on Mexican immigrants, but fewer than a million television viewers watched the festivities.
As The Associated Press reports, that’s down sharply from the 5.6 million people who watched it air live on NBC from Baton Rouge last year, evidence of the still-potent advantage broadcast television has in showing an event that appears to have more default viewers than people actively seeking it out.
Olivia Jordan of Oklahoma was crowned Miss USA Sunday in Baton Rouge. Trump, co-owner of the pageant and a Republican presidential candidate, found himself on the outs with NBC after many Latinos were angered by his assertion that some Mexican immigrants to the U.S. bring drugs and crime and some are rapists.
In records that date back to the 1970s, the audience for Miss USA had ranged from 4.6 million viewers in 2013 to 38.1 million in 1979, the Nielsen company says.
Shows beating out the Miss USA pageant for ratings included NBC’s America’s Got Talent, ABC’s version of Celebrity Family Feud and the CBS drama Zoo. Read the full story.
