Crews 
The 2015 BET Awards continued its winning ratings streak back in June but its predecessor the BET Hip Hop Awards, which focuses strictly on the movers and shakers of Hip Hop, suffered a less than desirable fate in their ratings when it aired on Tuesday (October 13).
The extreme drop in ratings were in part due to the first Democratic Presidential Debate of the year airing at the same time, but also is more than likely due to the fact that there was a planned boycott of the network and its award show.
The boycott was sparked due to the alleged lack of coverage from the network of last weekend’s ‘Million Man March’ 20th anniversary. BET along with many other major networks failed to provide substantial coverage and update on the event that took place in Washington, DC-the birthplace and still home of BET studios.
Considering the network is based in the District, many found it considerably hard to believe that they couldn’t cover the event even minimally. Many took to social media to vent their frustrations with the network and launched the boycott and as a result, the ratings surely suffered according to totals by TV By The Numbers and a more detailed breakdown via Headline Planet:
Facing competition from the Democratic Presidential Debate (3.59 in adults 18-49, 15.791 million viewers), the annual BET Hip-Hop Awards ceremony failed to match last year’s ratings performance.
Per Nielsen cable data, BET’s broadcast drew a 0.9 adults 18-49 rating with 1.807 million viewers in the 8-10PM slot. A simulcast on MTV added a 0.2 in adults 18-49 and 372,000 total viewers.
The BET version of last year’s broadcast drew a considerably stronger 1.5 adults 18-49 rating with 2.937 million viewers.
In addition to enduring the heavy debate competition, the awards show may have also been affected by a proposed boycott related to BET’s lack of Million Man March coverage.
— BET directly followed the 2015 Hip Hop Awards with a preview of “The Westbrook” (0.8, 1.434 million viewers). That led into an encore of the awards show, which posted a 0.4 rating with 910,000 total viewers.
Did you watch the BET Awards or were you part of the boycott? Do you think Viacom and BET should do a better job of providing more balanced programming as they once did, or have the folks at Viacom (who reportedly don’t have the best interest of the African America viewers at heart) dropped the ball?
