CBS's 60 MINUTES is Most-Watched Non-Sports Broadcast This Season
By: Caryn Robbins Jan. 20, 2016
It was a quite a night for 60 MINUTES, as the CBS News magazine delivered 20.62 million viewers Sunday - the largest non-sports audience for a single broadcast this television season, according to Nielsen live plus same day ratings for Sunday, Jan. 17.
The huge audience put the broadcast in the #4 slot in viewers, adults 25-54 (6.1/15), adults 18-49 (4.8/14) and households (12.0/19), ahead of all the other non-sports programs for the week. It was 60 MINUTES' best ratings in households and key demos since Dec. 16, 2012 and the most viewers for a 60 MINUTES program since Nov. 16, 2008, when the broadcast featured the first interview with President-Elect Barack Obama and his wife Michelle. It was the fifth time 60 MINUTES finished the week among the five most-watched broadcasts and its tenth trip to the weekly Nielsen's top 10 list this season. Sunday's edition of 60 MINUTES featured Lesley Stahl's story about economic espionage against U.S. companies carried out by the Chinese government, CHARLIE ROSE speaking to Sean Penn in his first interview about his secret meeting with the notorious drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, and Bill Whitaker's report on mountain lions that live within the city limits of Los Angeles.Videos