“60 Minutes” is discovering its footing within the flagship CBS Information program’s first full season beneath top editor Bari Weiss.
About 10.2 million viewers tuned into Sunday’s “60 Minutes” episode, based on Nielsen viewers information.
That is up modestly from the ten.15 million who watched the third episode of final yr’s season, based on Nielsen information. The second installment drew 6.8 million viewers, up from 6.45 million viewers for the comparable episode in 2025. CBS’s Sunday newscast was off final week as CBS hosted MTV’s Video Music Awards on Sunday night time.
This week’s stable viewership quantity is an encouraging signal for Weiss after she relaunched “60 Minutes” beneath new top producer Nick Bilton in mid-September. The episode featured a phase on AI within the office and an interview with Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina.
The long-lasting newscast noticed ratings slide 20% in its season debut, from about 10 million viewers to 7.9 million. Nevertheless, the lead-in from the NFL recreation previous to the premiere had additionally been decrease than final fall’s opener, which might have a big influence on the “60 Minutes” ranking. CBS stated that the “60 Minutes” debut roughly tripled its social media attain from final yr.
The “60 Minutes” debut had a similar viewership pattern as final yr’s, a Enterprise Insider evaluation discovered, which means that the rankings decline was as a result of viewers did not give Weiss’ reboot a attempt.
“60 Minutes” has undergone substantial turnover since Weiss and Bilton took over. Four correspondents left the program, together with Scott Pelley and CNN’s Anderson Cooper, whereas Ross Douthat joined as a correspondent from The New York Occasions.
Bilton, Weiss, and CBS president Tom Cibrowski had stated in a memo that this system’s reboot was “an enormous second for 60 Minutes and CBS.”
Pelley, a “60 Minutes” veteran, had questioned Bilton’s {qualifications} in a workers assembly and accused Weiss of “murdering” the storied broadcast. Bilton fired Pelley and informed staffers that he was longing for “60 Minutes” regardless of what he had referred to as a “trying and difficult” start. Weiss said after Pelley’s dismissal that she was “solely fascinated by working in a newsroom that’s constructed on belief and mutual respect.”
