“60 Minutes” is finding its footing in the flagship CBS News program’s first full season under top editor Bari Weiss.
About 10.2 million viewers tuned into Sunday’s “60 Minutes” episode, according to Nielsen audience data.
That’s up modestly from the 10.15 million who watched the third episode of last year’s season, according to Nielsen data. The second installment drew 6.8 million viewers, up from 6.45 million viewers for the comparable episode in 2025. CBS’s Sunday newscast was off last week as CBS hosted MTV’s Video Music Awards on Sunday night.
This week’s solid viewership number is an encouraging sign for Weiss after she relaunched “60 Minutes” under new top producer Nick Bilton in mid-September. The episode featured a segment on AI in the workplace and an interview with Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina.
The iconic newscast saw ratings slide 20% in its season debut, from about 10 million viewers to 7.9 million. However, the lead-in from the NFL game prior to the premiere had also been lower than last fall’s opener, which can have a significant impact on the “60 Minutes” rating. CBS said that the “60 Minutes” debut approximately tripled its social media reach from last year.
The “60 Minutes” debut had a similar viewership pattern as last year’s, a Business Insider analysis found, which suggests that the ratings decline was because viewers didn’t give Weiss’ reboot a try.
“60 Minutes” has undergone substantial turnover since Weiss and Bilton took over. Four correspondents left the program, including Scott Pelley and CNN’s Anderson Cooper, while Ross Douthat joined as a correspondent from The New York Times.
Bilton, Weiss, and CBS president Tom Cibrowski had said in a memo that the program’s reboot was “a big moment for 60 Minutes and CBS.”
Pelley, a “60 Minutes” veteran, had questioned Bilton’s qualifications in a staff meeting and accused Weiss of “murdering” the storied broadcast. Bilton fired Pelley and told staffers that he was hopeful for “60 Minutes” despite what he had called a “trying and difficult” start. Weiss said after Pelley’s dismissal that she was “only interested in working in a newsroom that is built on trust and mutual respect.”
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