The revamped “60 Minutes” suffered double-digit ratings declines with its Season 59 premiere.
Sunday’s episode brought in 7.94 million viewers on CBS, down 21% from last season’s premiere, according to Nielsen Big Data + Panel Live + Same Day figures provided to TheWrap. The broadcast drew 1.6 million viewers among adults ages 25–54, a steeper 33% year-over-year decline in the key demographic.
The results marked the program’s smallest season-premiere audience since at least 2000 and the first “60 Minutes” season premiere this century to fall below 9 million total viewers and 2 million adults ages 25–54, according to Nielsen records reviewed by TheWrap.
The network touted 116.7 million video views across “60 Minutes” social platforms, a 201% increase from the previous season, according to internal data.
“We are so proud of the exceptional journalism on display in our season premiere, and we can’t wait to bring our audience another amazing show this coming Sunday,” a CBS News spokesperson said in a statement.
The newest season of the CBS newsmagazine had been highly anticipated after CBS News editor in chief Bari Weiss and her newly appointed “60 Minutes” executive producer Nick Bilton overhauled the program over the past few months.
Sunday’s premiere followed NFL coverage that drew approximately 18.4 million viewers, down roughly 22% from the 23.8 million delivered by last season’s lead-in, according to preliminary data. “60 Minutes” therefore retained approximately 43% of its incoming football audience this year, compared with 42% last year, according to a person familiar with the data.
The year-over-year comparison is not entirely apples-to-apples because Nielsen changed its measurement methodology on Aug. 31. Sunday’s episode also began 16 minutes later than last season’s premiere and faced a competing late national NFL broadcast on Fox.
The episode led with Norah O’Donnell’s interview with a U.S. Air Force weapons systems officer who survived roughly 50 hours behind enemy lines after his F-15E was shot down over Iran. The White House promoted the segment Monday as a testament to President Donald Trump’s military agenda.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with final Nielsen data.
