Oscars: Blacks Tuned In Despite Call For Boycott, Others Tuned Out

NEW YORK (CBS/AP) -- Don't blame the effort to promote an Oscars boycott among blacks because of diversity concerns for the drop in Academy Awards viewership this year.

The Nielsen company said Tuesday that an estimated 3.22 million black viewers watched the Oscars on ABC Sunday, a decline of 2 percent from the 2015 show. The show's overall viewership of 34.4 million was an eight-year low, and a drop of nearly 8 percent from the year before.

Anger about a lack of minority nominees led to the call for black viewers to tune out; the #OscarsSoWhite controversy was central to host Chris Rock's monologue.

Within the past decade, the Oscars had a smaller number of black viewers in 2012, 2011, 2009 and 2008, Nielsen said.

A few who were there...

© Copyright 2016The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.