’60 Minutes’ Season Premiere Averages 7.94 Million Viewers, A Falloff From Last Year’s Debut

The season premiere of 60 Minutes averaged 7.94 million viewers on Sunday, off from the more than 10 million who tuned in to last year’s debut.

The first episode of the show’s 59th season was highly anticipated — and scrutinized — following the shake up at the newsmagazine last spring, despite its status as one of the network’s top rated programs.

The season premiere was off by 21% compared to the Sept. 28 debut last year, but there are some caveats to the figure, as tends to be the case during football season.

The broadcast was delayed in eastern and central time zones because of the Minnesota Vikings vs. Green Bay Packers game, and that football lead in also was off by 21%, averaging 18.6 million.

CBS’s NFL coverage also faced competition from football on Fox, and the final part of 60 Minutes went up against NBC’s telecast of the Dallas Cowboys vs. the New York Giants. The first quarter hour of 60 Minutes averaged 9.4 million and dropped to 6.7 million in the final quarter hour. Networks also are pointing to changes in Nielsen’s methodology.

In the 25-54 demo, 60 Minutes averaged 1.58 million viewers, down 33% from 2.36 million for last year’s premiere.

CBS News said in a statement, “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.”

Last spring, CBS News editor in chief Bari Weiss replaced executive producer Tanya Simon with Nick Bilton, and three correspondents, including Sharyn Alfonsi, Cecilia Vega and Scott Pelley, were fired. The season premiere featured some new graphics and the introduction of a new correspondent, Ross Douthat. Stories featured included an exclusive interview with an airman shot down and rescued from Iran, a report on brokers collecting huge sums to secure clients’ pardons from Donald Trump, and a profile of the Los Angeles Rams.