*According to Nielsen‘s ratings among Black viewers, BET’s original titles dominate.
Seven of the Top 10 shows most watched by Black audiences are BET series — Hollywood mogul Tyler Perry, Variety reports, produces five of the favored titles.
“If BET, by analogy, is to Black viewers what Disney is to families, then when Tyler Perry came up on the scene, it was similar to when Pixar came onto the scene,” BET CEO Scott Mills said.
“We knew that Tyler was creating an array of content that was really resonating with the audiences and we thought, ‘what if we brought all of that together and we used our relationship with Tyler to create this really powerful foundation of content that was going to ensure that audiences were just continuously coming back to BET?’ Then with that safely established, we could then explore more,” said Mills, according to Variety.
Perry said, “There’s this ownership of me from my audience, and it’s been that way since I’ve been on stage.”
“I’m brother, cousin, uncle, husband, friend, to my audience, and we share this kindred relationship. The way that I’m speaking to my audience is the way that I want shows to speak to me. I want to be entertained this kind of way,” Perry continued.
Here’s more from Variety:
“Sistas” Season 6, which returned Oct. 18, averaged 936,000 viewers this fall, followed by spinoff “Zatima,” which reached 630,000 viewers. Meanwhile, “The Oval” attracted 589,000 viewers with its Season 5 this fall, which returned on Oct. 17.
According to Nielsen ratings, both “Sistas” and “The Oval” rank as No. 1 and No. 4 on linear among Black audiences age 2+ between July and October. Other titles in the top ten include “Ms. Pat Settles It” (612,000), “House of Payne” (499,000), “First Wives Club” (412,000), “Assisted Living” (404,000), and “The Ms. Pat Show” (398,000).
Meanwhile, Perry’s “The Oval” reached its 100th episode milestone last week.
“I always tried to articulate what it’s like working for Tyler. Where he came from, what he’s built, what his vision is for the long term, and now you have this incredible movie [“Maxine’s Baby”] that explains it all,” said Quinn.
“In the microcosm of ‘The Oval,’ you’ll understand what he’s built, what his audience is expecting from him,” Quinn continued. “You just have license to be so fun and so crazy, because that is the secret sauce. That is the fuel that powers the Tyler Perry empire, these incredible salacious stories, these crazy iconic characters that come into people’s living rooms every once a week and entertain them.”
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