Not surprised, beyond the program changes, the complaints about leadership from former Miss America’s likely did not help.
There they go, “Miss America” viewers. The “Miss America 2019” competition just plummeted 36 percent in TV ratings versus last year’s record low performance on ABC. Yes, that one went up against the first Sunday of the NFL regular season as well.
In 2017 (which is confusingly the 2018 pageant), ABC’s “Miss America” pageant averaged a 1.1 rating/4 share and had 5.4 million total viewers. This year’s revamped format — which omitted the popular swimsuit and evening gown rounds — struggled to a 0.7/3 and 4.3 million viewers, which means it was down 36 percent in the key demo and off 19 percent among overall audience members.
Among adults 18-49, which captures the ages most important to media buyers, Sunday’s telecast came in even lower than the few years “Miss America” ran on the TLC and CMT cable channels about a decade ago. That’s rough. In terms of total viewers, last night’s special still outperformed most of the basic cable years.
And then there was the political commentary. I think we;re all tired of politics being injected into everything, especially the entertainment and sports we usually use as a refuge from that sort of thing. Very disappointed.
The post-#MeToo tweaks to the contest weren’t the only signs of change as politics reared their head throughout the competition. Miss Michigan Emily Sioma eschewed the usual boastful or rah-rah self-introduction to deliver this pointed diss at her home state in the live broadcast Sunday night: “From a state with 84 percent of the U.S. fresh water, but none for its residents to drink, I’m Miss Michigan, Emily Sioma.”
During pre-broadcast competition on Friday, another contestant made a pointed remark about President Donald Trump. “Donald Trump is the biggest issue our country faces,” Miss West Virginia Madeline Collins told the judges. “Unfortunately, he has caused a lot of division in our country.”
