The latest installment of “60 Minutes” is the fourth lowest-rated episode since the start of the 21st century.
Photo illustration by Victoria Sunday/The Daily Beast/Getty Images/Reuters
The reworked 60 minutes suffered a new blow in terms of audience.
Just 6.06 million people watched the fourth episode of the news magazine’s 59th season on Oct. 10, and about 767,000 viewers were in the key 25-54 age group, which TV advertisers watch closely. The figures are lower than last year at the same time, when the program attracted almost a million additional viewers for the fourth episode of this season.
Even more troubling, this episode is the fourth lowest rated episode since the start of the 21st century.
In June, Weiss fired several people from “60 Minutes,” including correspondents Cecilia Vega and Sharyn Alfonsi, as well as executive producer Tanya Simon.
The low numbers come despite the episode including news segments featuring West Bank’s Lesley Stahl and an interview with the director of the Secret Service.
The poor ratings come just a week after the show reached a more impressive total of 10.2 million viewers and 2 million viewers in the Oct. 4 demo. But it’s worth noting that this episode benefited from an NFL intro, unlike last week’s.
A source close to the ratings told The Daily Beast that CBS expected viewership to drop this week because there was no NFL lead-in, with Fox airing the final NFL game. The source added that viewership increased throughout the broadcast as matches ended.
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This season’s premiere also dropped in the ratings compared to the previous season’s first episodes, as its debut, similar to this season’s fourth episode, was the lowest rated since 2000.
The low ratings come as controversy has raged around CBS News since Bari Weiss, who had no professional experience in television news before taking on her new role, took over as executive editor late last year. It was installed after David Ellison, son of billionaire Trump donor Larry Ellison, and his company Paramount Skydance bought his “anti-woke” news and opinion blog, The Free Press, for $150 million.
Bari Weiss’s leadership at CBS has come under scrutiny.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
She and Ellison, 43, tried to make the network more pro-Trump, but buyouts, firings and criticism marked the network’s rightward shift.
His leadership during the last season of 60 minutes was particularly controversial, as the news magazine was plagued by infighting that spilled into the public eye.
Weiss pictured with Ellison, to his left.
She had clashed with producers and former 60 minutes correspondents, particularly Sharyn Alfonsi, whom she later fired, due to her last-minute decision to suspend a segment on detention conditions at CECOT, the infamous Salvadoran mega-prison where the Trump administration sent deportees.
In addition to canning Alfonsi, she also fired Cecilia Vega, who was the first Latina to be appointed 60 minutes correspondent, and former correspondent Scott Pelley was fired hours after expressing concerns about the direction of 60 minutes under Weiss. Anderson Cooper, who had also been 60 minutes correspondent for 20 years, resigned earlier this year.
Stahl pictured with Tanya Simon, Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega, all of whom Weiss fired.
CBS/CBS Photo Archive via Getty Images
When the dust settled on his “bloodbath” of season 58, only three of the seven correspondents remained.
She has since appointed Nick Bilton, who like her had no experience in broadcast news, as executive producer, and brought in conservative commentator Ross Douthat and Norah O’Donnell as correspondents.
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