The BET Hip Hop Awards were under some scrutiny for originally going to tape their programming the same day as the Million Man March. Hip Hop Enquirer were first to report this conflict of interest, which prompted Russell Simmons to make the phone called that pushed the award show back by a day. While it would have been in the best interest to move the BET Hip Hop awards to another weekend entirely, they stood firm on the day of October 9th to the determent of their ratings.
According to Headline Planet.com :
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.
It should be noted that the Democratic debate aired the same night, but due to the discussion of boycotting the award show if they did not budge from that weekend, we would have to lean towards that argument. BET also did not air any coverage of the Million Man March which would also sour viewers on their programming to the point of a boycott.
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