Bari Weiss’ revamped 60 Minutes took another ratings hit after a dismal debut.
The once-venerated CBS News show drew 6.5 million total viewers for its second episode of the season, according to preliminary Nielsen numbers—marking an 18-percent dip from the debut.
The newsmagazine show drew only 1.1 million viewers in the coveted 25-54 demographic, down 30 percent from the season opener. The show got beaten in the key demo by Fox’s Best Medicine and CBS’ Big Brother.
The latest episode performed only slightly better than last season’s second episode. Fewer viewers tuned in on Sunday night even after CBS hyped up an interview with Patrick Clancy, ex-husband of Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mom accused of killing their three young children. Clancy sat down with Ross Douthat, the longtime conservative commentator at The New York Times who made his debut as a 60 Minutes correspondent last week.
Veteran correspondent Norah O’Donnell also reported on tensions in Texas over the establishment of AI data centers, while Jon Wertheim covered the story of Shergar, a champion racehorse kidnapped in Ireland in the early 1980s.
A television executive told the Daily Beast that a drop-off in viewership for the second episode was expected because there was no NFL lead-in game over the weekend. The same source also said 60 Minutes retained more viewers between the first and second episodes this year compared to last year.
The numbers point to a continued downtrend for 60 Minutes, which opened its 59th season under new leadership last week. The debut garnered an audience of about 7.94 million, its poorest opening since at least the turn of the century. Viewership in the 25-54 demographic also dropped a third to 1.6 million viewers.
The show’s debut suffered a ratings blow despite a strong lead-in: football matchups between the Los Angeles Chargers and Arizona Cardinals, as well as the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers. CBS’ Sunday night football broadcasts saw bigger audiences than any other program on cable television, according to Yahoo Sports.
A television executive previously told the Daily Beast that the Sunday night football preceding the 60 Minutes debut similarly saw a 22-percent drop in viewership, which could help explain the decline.
The iconic show is now run by Weiss, the former opinion writer who was selected as CBS News editor-in-chief despite her lack of TV experience, and Nick Bilton, a tech journalist handpicked by Weiss as 60 Minutes executive producer.
Weiss was elevated to the helm of CBS News by David Ellison, the Paramount Skydance CEO and son of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison. The powerful father and son were once dubbed by President Donald Trump as “friends of mine” and “big supporters of mine.”
