Miss USA sees lowest ratings ever amid Trump controversy

NEW YORK (AP) — 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.

That’s down sharply from the 5.6 million people who watched Miss USA on NBC the year before, 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, Louisiana.

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 said.

NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” was in its customary summer spot atop the prime-time ratings last week. Two other hot summer shows are ABC’s version of “Celebrity Family Feud” and the CBS drama, “Zoo.”

CBS won the week in prime time, averaging 5 million viewers. NBC had 4.6 million, and won in the youthful demographic that many advertisers seek. ABC had 4.2 million, Univision had 2.49 million, Fox had 2.48 million, Telemundo had 1.4 million and the CW and ION Television tied with 1.04 million.

Shark-obsessed Discovery was the week’s most popular cable network, averaging 2.35 million viewers in prime time. The Disney Channel had 1.7 million, USA had 1.61 million, Fox News Channel had 1.58 million and TNT had 1.57 million.

NBC’s “Nightly News” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 8.1 million viewers. ABC’s “World News Tonight” was second with 7.5 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 6.7 million viewers.

For the week of July 6-12, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: “America’s Got Talent” (Tuesday), NBC, 10.57 million; “Celebrity Family Feud,” ABC, 8.72 million; “Zoo,” CBS, 7.67 million; “NCIS,” CBS, 7.6 million; “60 Minutes,” CBS, 7.59 million; “The Bachelorette,” ABC, 7.05 million; “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 6.9 million; “America’s Got Talent” (Wednesday), NBC, 6.68 million; “American Ninja Warrior,” NBC, 6.42 million; “NCIS: New Orleans,” CBS, 6.07 million.

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ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Co. CBS is owned by CBS Corp. CW is a joint venture of Warner Bros. Entertainment and CBS Corp. Fox is owned by 21st Century Fox. NBC and Telemundo are owned by Comcast Corp. ION Television is owned by ION Media Networks.

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