CBS’s “60 Minutes” opens its season with an audience of just under 8 million viewers, a notable decline compared with last year’s premiere. Multiple outlets report the Sunday broadcast averages around 7.9–7.94 million viewers.
The New York Times and Los Angeles Times both describe a steep year-over-year drop, citing roughly a 21% decline from last year. They also note that the NFL lead-in audience falls by about a similar percentage, suggesting the lower “60 Minutes” performance follows broader changes in the preceding program’s viewership.
Deadline adds that last year’s debut drew more than 10 million viewers and frames the premiere as highly anticipated and closely watched, in part due to shakeups at the newsmagazine earlier in the year. Taken together, the outlets focus on the ratings dip and its relationship to the NFL lead-in, while differing slightly on emphasis—some highlight percentage decline, others stress the anticipation following newsroom changes.
