’60 Minutes’ Ratings Hit New Low, Drops Below ‘America’s Funniest Home Videos’ With Key Demographic

60 Minutes” suffered one of its weakest outings in years this past Sunday, pulling in just 5.64 million total viewers and a mere 558,000 among adults 25 to 54, putting it behind “America’s Funniest Home Videos” and “The Price Is Right.”The episode, the sixth of the current season, aired without a football lead-in, a factor that has historically boosted the program’s audience. Still, the drop-off was striking: Using Nielsen data, Variety noted that no sixth episode of “60 Minutes” has pulled in fewer than 7 million viewers since 2000. Compared to the same point last season, when the show benefited from a strong NFL lead-in, Sunday’s telecast fell 60 percent in total viewers and 81 percent in the key demographic.CBS News has not publicly released the ratings or made executives available for comment. Variety reported that four people familiar with the figures confirmed their accuracy. Despite the steep decline, “60 Minutes” still ranked as the second-most-watched non-sports program on broadcast television that night, trailing only CBS dramas “Tracker” and “Marshals” — a category the show typically leads.Yet Status’ Oliver Darcy noted in his newsletter that “America’s Funniest Home Videos” and “The Price Is Right” drew more viewers in the key demo than “60 Minutes,” to which Mr. Darcy added, “Oof.”Sunday’s broadcast included a segment examining the Trump administration’s deportation practices, along with interviews featuring Colorado Governor Jared Polis and election official Tina Peters.The ratings slide comes amid a turbulent stretch for the program. Since Bari Weiss became CBS News editor-in-chief last October, several longtime figures have exited the show, including executive producer Tanya Simon, producer Draggan Mihailovich, and correspondents Cecilia Vega, Sharyn Alfonsi, and Scott Pelley, the latter of whom was reportedly dismissed after criticizing the changes.Tensions have also surfaced between Ms. Weiss and veteran correspondent Lesley Stahl, one of three original correspondents — alongside Bill Whitaker and Jon Wertheim — who remained with the broadcast. According to Mr. Darcy’s newsletter, the two clashed over a segment covering extremist Israeli settlers in the West Bank, and Ms. Stahl reportedly considered leaving the show as a result. A CBS spokesman pushed back on that account, telling Status: “This is a ludicrous, twisted narrative. All 60 Minutes pieces go through a famously rigorous editorial process — which includes edits from editors. This piece received far fewer edits than most.” One unnamed television executive offered a blunt assessment to Mr. Darcy: “Their view was that, ‘Who was Sharyn Alfonsi? Who was Cecilia Vega? This woke show! It can’t get any worse.’ And in fact, Bari and Nick and team have shown it actually can get worse. This is not a surprise to anybody who understands television or television viewing habits or the star system at ’60 Minutes’ or how television audiences work.”

’60 Minutes’ Ratings Hit New Low, Drops Below ‘America’s Funniest Home Videos’ With Key Demographic

’60 Minutes’ Ratings Hit New Low, Drops Below ‘America’s Funniest Home Videos’ With Key Demographic

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