Tony Awards 2012 is lowest-rated ceremony ever

Published Jun 12 2012, 17:46 BST  |  By Paul Millar

The 2012 Tony Awards has ranked as the least watched ceremony in its history, preliminary Nielsen overnight data shows.

Sunday night's 66th annual live event, which saw Hugh Jackman receive a special award from his wife, was watched by 6m (1.0) for CBS between 8pm and 11pm.

In the 7pm hour, 60 Minutes interested 7.9m (1.1), meaning the Tiffany Network was the lowest-scoring network of the night.

Secret Millionaire (5.4m/1.5) and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (4.6m/1.5) matched last week's performances for ABC, which topped primetime.

Meanwhile, a two-hour Dateline helped NBC finish runner-up, attracting 5.5m (1.2) between 7pm and 9pm. An America's Got Talent catch-up followed with 5.2m (1.4).

With Fox showing wall-to-wall repeats, Family Guy topped its schedule with 3.6m (1.6) at 9pm, while The Simpsons had 3m (1.3) at 8pm.