Friday’s “Miss Teen USA” pageant became the fourth this year to dip to an all-time worst rating. With the “Miss America” pageant moving to its third television home in four years, suffering from lack of interest, and the broadcast networks ushering the remaining pageants to little-watched Friday nights, even lower ratings seem likely in the future. 

The two-hour “Miss Teen USA,” which aired Friday at 8 p.m. on NBC, averaged just a 3.1 household rating, according to Nielsen overnights. If that number holds when final ratings come out later today, it would become the lowest-rated telecast in the event’s history.
 
The rating fell 18 percent from the 3.8 final household rating last year’s event earned, which was the previous all-time low.
 
Part of that ratings slide can be attributed to the fact that “Miss Teen USA” aired on a Friday night for only the second time since it started being televised in 1983. Friday night, especially during the summer months, is typically low-rated and in recent years has been reserved mainly for reruns and second-tier game shows.
 
But NBC’s decision to air the event on Friday could very well be its own admission that viewers just aren’t that interested anymore.
 
“Miss Teen USA” isn’t the only beauty pageant that’s fading. Big sister “Miss USA” averaged a 5.0 final household rating back in March, making it the lowest-rated telecast in that event’s history.
 
NBC’s other pageant, “Miss Universe,” pulled just a 4.5 household rating in May, also an all-time low. And “Miss America,” which aired for the second time on cable network CMT this year after not being televised in 2005, averaged just a 1.5 household rating in January, great for the network but the worst ever for the event.
 
NBC does point out that, for a Friday night, “Miss Teen USA” did decently. It averaged a 1.4 overnight rating among viewers 18-49, the highest for the network in that timeslot since May 25.
 
With an NFL preseason game, CBS took Friday night among households, averaging a 3.5 overnight rating and a 7 share. NBC was second at 3.2/6, ABC third at 3.1/6, CW fourth at 2.4/5 and Fox fifth at 2.3/4. Univision ratings were not available at press time.
 
CBS led at 8 p.m. with a 3.2 household rating for its first hour of football, followed by NBC with a 2.9 for the first hour of “Miss Teen USA.” ABC was third with a 2.8 for “Set for Life,” CW fourth for its first hour of “Friday Night Smackdown” and Fox fifth with a 2.2 for the first hour of the movie “The Animal.”
 
At 9 p.m. CBS led again with a 3.7 for its second hour of football, with NBC second with a 3.2 for the second half of “Miss Teen USA.” CW was third that hour with a 2.5 for its second hour of “Smackdown,” Fox fourth for the last half of its movie and ABC fifth with a 2.2 for an hour of “George Lopez” reruns.
 
ABC took the lead at 10 p.m. with a 4.3 for “20/20,” while NBC held onto second with a 3.6 for “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” and CBS fell to third with a 2.9 for another hour of football.
 
Among 18-49s, CBS led the night with a 1.6 average overnight rating, followed by ABC and NBC at 1.4, CW at 1.3 and Fox at 1.2.