“60 Minutes” saw an “alarming” ratings dip on Sunday, drawing one of its smallest viewing samples in years, Variety reported.
About 5.6 million viewers tuned in, and just 558,000 were in the critical 25- to 54-year-old age demographic, according to Nielsen data cited by the showbiz daily on Tuesday.
Historically, the drop is significant. Since 2000, a season has not had a sixth episode of the venerable TV newsmagazine fall short of 7 million viewers, according to Variety. The outlet said “60 Minutes” can suffer lower viewership without a “strong” football-game lead-in, as last weekend, but apparently not to this degree.
The network had not released the numbers as of Tuesday, but Variety said it confirmed them with sources.
HuffPost has reached out to CBS, and the network declined to comment.
The news program has been under scrutiny for months amid the massive makeover by CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss under Paramount Skydance and CEO David Ellison, who has downplayed claims of a friendship with President Donald Trump.
Behind-camera and on-camera turnover exploded as the network’s perceived rightward lean raised questions about the show’s independence and integrity.
Sunday’s episode included the forced travels of a deportee, Trump’s efforts to advocate for convicted election interferer Tina Peters, and Australia’s struggles to enforce under-16 social media restrictions.