What does the drop in viewers for the “60 Minutes” season premiere mean for CBS News’ top editor, Bari Weiss? A look at the granular ratings data provides some clues.
Viewership for the first “60 Minutes” episode led by new producer Nick Bilton, who was handpicked by Weiss in May, fell 20% from 2025’s season debut. An average of just under 8 million people watched the newscast, versus over 10 million last September.
The question: Did people start watching and then give up, or did they simply not switch the program on in the first place?
Data from Nielsen shows it was the latter. “60 Minutes” retained its audience for Sunday’s opener at a rate…
