Fewer people watched Miss Universe this year, even with the winner mix-up going viral
Nielsen reports that Fox's broadcast of the annual contest earned a 1.7 rating with the advertiser-preferred 18- to 49-year-old audience, according to preliminary data, less than the 2.0 rating NBC earned last year for the pageant.
This year's program was watched by 6.2 million total viewers. That number is more than a million viewers less than last year's 7.7 million total viewers.
A Fox representative does note that the network aired this year's pageant from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., while NBC aired last year's event from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. when more people are traditionally watching television. NBC's broadcast also aired in late January with no competition from football, according to Variety.
Nevertheless, the mistaken crowning of Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutierrez by host Steve Harvey created a huge ripple across social media on Sunday night. The host apologized, saying he had read the wrong name off the ballot he was given.
After some confusion, rightful winner Miss Philippines Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach was crowned.
This is the first year of the pageant without real estate mogul and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump as one of its owners. He sold the company in September. That doesn't mean that Trump didn't have an opinion on how things went down on Sunday night. He said that the mistake would've never happened under his watch.