It’s not surprising to see ratings at “60 Minutes” slump when CBS doesn’t air a strong football game before the start of the show. But the program’s performance on Sunday, which lacked exactly that kind of NFL lead-in, is alarming nonetheless.
\n\nThe fifth episode of this season’s cycle of the venerable CBS newsmagazine drew only 5.64 million viewers, one of the smallest audiences for the program in years, according to data from Nielsen. The show captured a mere 558,000 among viewers between 25 and 54, the demographic coveted most by advertisers in news programming.
\n\nSince 2000, a sixth episode of “60 Minutes” has never failed to capture less than seven million viewers overall and less than one million viewers in the advertiser category.
\n\nCBS News declined to make executives available for comment, and the network had not released the Nielsen data itself publicly as of Tuesday evening. The Nielsen numbers were confirmed by four people familiar with the information. For the night, “60 Minutes” was the second-most-watched non-sports program on broadcast TV, behind CBS dramas “Tracker” and “Marshals.” Typically, “60 Minutes” finishes first in that category.
\n\nSuch numbers may be cause for consternation at CBS News, the CBS television network…
Original source: https://variety.com/v/tv/