’60 Minutes’ Audience Sinks to Surprising Low Without Football
CBS’s “60 Minutes” drew 5.64 million viewers on Sunday, one of its smallest audiences in years, while its audience among viewers aged 25 to 54 fell to 558,000. The figures matter because the programme usually ranks first among non-sports broadcast shows and is an important lead-in to CBS’s Sunday evening schedule.
The episode aired without a strong NFL lead-in and faced a late football game on Fox. Compared with the year-earlier broadcast, which had a stronger football lead-in, overall viewership was down 60% and the 25-to-54 audience fell 81%; since 2000, a sixth episode of a season had not previously fallen below seven million viewers overall and one million in that age group. The programme examined deportations under the Trump administration and interviewed Colorado Governor Jared Polis and Tina Peters, whose sentence he commuted.
In short
- “60 Minutes” drew 5.64 million viewers.
- Its 25-to-54 audience was 558,000.
- Viewership fell sharply without a strong NFL lead-in.
Explained simply
60 Minutes is a long-running CBS news programme in the United States, where it is a regular part of the Sunday evening schedule. Its audience is often compared with other non-sports programmes, and broadcasters also value it for drawing viewers to what follows.
The National Football League (NFL) is the United States’ main professional American football league, and its games can attract large audiences. When a game airs before or at the same time as a programme, it can affect how many people watch that programme.
The episode covered deportations under President Donald Trump’s administration and included interviews with Colorado Governor Jared Polis and Tina Peters, whose prison sentence Polis commuted. Its subject matter and audience figures matter to CBS as it considers the programme’s reach and role in its schedule.
Art Celebrity Culture Entertainment Football Sport TV