"60 Minutes" returned this fall with a quiet season premiere after a summer of controversy behind-the-scenes. But the latest episode may have been a little too quiet.
The 59th season of the iconic newsmagazine premiered Sunday, Sept. 13, and nearly 20% fewer viewers tuned in to hear the news of the week. The episode only netted 7.94 million viewers, according to Nielsen data released by CBS. That is down from 10 million viewers for the 2025 season premiere.
This steep drop in viewership comes after executive producer Nick Bilton took over the program earlier this year, and proceeded to fire veterans, including popular correspondent Scott Pelleyin an acrimonious dispute that made national headlines. Bilton was hired by CBS New editor-in-chief Bari
Weiss, a controversial journalist who has made the overhaul of "60 Minutes"a priority in her tumultuous tenure at CBS so far.
CBS News issued a statement in response to the ratings, saying, "We are so proud of the exceptional journalism on display in our season premiere and we can’t wait to bring our audience another amazing show this coming Sunday."
'60 Minutes' ratings drop after controversy and criticism
After Bilton fired Pelley and others, the producer added new correspondents to "Minutes," including conservative New York Times columnist Ross Douthat, CBS Evening News alumna Norah O'Donnell, "The Perfect Storm" author Sebastian Junger, Vice News alum Gianna Toboni and prominent British broadcaster Trevor Phillips. In interviews he promised a modern makeover of the decades-old show.
Other than staffing changes, the premiere did not appear substantially different in aesthetics than previous years, and followed its usual format. The episode opened with O'Donnell reporting on a story about the two American airmen whose fighter jet was shot down over Iran in April. Lesley Stahl reported on pardon brokers and Jon Wertheim had a story about the Los Angeles Rams.
The episode concluded with Douthat speaking to viewers about artificial intelligence and its safety. He introduced himself as "one of the new faces you'll see" on "60 Minutes," before teasing what's to come this season.
"We'll be chasing a lot of stories this season, but right now, no story looms larger than the latest developments in artificial intelligence," he said, later noting, "We may have a narrow window this year, not the next 10, to make artificial intelligence safe for humanity. That clock is ticking, and so is ours…"
He emphasized that "60 Minutes" is "journalism you can trust," before adding an ominous warning, "Where we're headed, we're going to need it.
The premiere did not mention Pelley's firing, the ensuing scandal or the management changes at the program.
Changes at "60 Minutes" and other CBS News programs followed the hiring of conservative-leaning journalist Weiss as editor-in-chief of CBS News, including its TV shows and online media operation. CBS's parent company Paramount merged with Skydance in 2025, and new CEO David Ellison installed Weiss as part of broader changes at the company. David Ellison is the son of Larry Ellison, the CEO of Oracle, billionaire and prominent President Trump supporter.
CBS touts digital viewership for '60 Minutes'
Traditional Nielsen ratings were down, but CBS touted other metrics in its release, saying the program "reached 116.7 million video views across all '60 Minutes' social platforms, surpassing the 58th season premiere average by +201%." They also said the "watch time" on the "60 Minutes" YouTube channel is up 115%.
Digital viewership, however, does not translate into the same revenues as traditional broadcast viewership. Ads on network television are far more lucrative than on digital and social platforms.
"60 Minutes" remains a ratings hit for a news program, and beat all non-sports primetime programming on Sunday Sept. 13. It's 2025-2026 season averaged 9.1 million viewers weekly.
Contributing: Joelle Goldstein, USA TODAY
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: '60 Minutes' has steep ratings decline in season premiere after changes at CBS
