“60 Minutes” opened its new season with its smallest premiere audience of the 21st century, drawing about 7.7 million viewers, according to preliminary Nielsen ratings.
The long-running CBS newsmagazine was down 19% from last year’s roughly 9.5 million viewers and 33% in the key 25-to-54 demographic. The weak start comes in the first full season under CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss.
The drop stood out because of the football audience that preceded it. An NFL game leading into the broadcast drew 18.4 million viewers — more than 10 million more than “60 Minutes” itself. The Packers-Vikings matchup was down about 22% from 23.8 million a year earlier.
A source familiar with the numbers told The NY Post that “60 Minutes” actually retained a slightly larger share of its NFL lead-in than it did last year.
The ratings are preliminary, based on Nielsen panel data. Final figures are expected after 4 p.m. Tuesday and could revise the totals. The Post has sought comment from CBS News.
NFL viewership questions hang over the numbers. The league has criticized changes to Nielsen’s methodology. NFL data chief Paul Ballew said the league still lacked enough impact data to fully assess the revisions and that some changes initially looked “like a negative for sports.” NBC’s NFL ratings were down 12% on Wednesday.
“A lot of the success of ’60 Minutes’ has to do with the lead-in, the NFL ratings,” one CBS insider told The Post.
Another CBS source was less sympathetic, saying that blaming football only highlighted the show’s reliance on a huge sports lead-in. “If CBS is spinning about the NFL numbers, then they know that their product is weak and has to rely on sports for a big opening show,” the person said.