#13 with a bullet: "60 Minutes" has best season in years
Not bad for a 40-year-old TV show. Buoyed by what has always buoyed "60 Minutes" — high-interest news stories and great lead-ins from sports — the CBS newsmagazine finished 13th in the Nielsen ratings last season, best since 2000. Also heartening, the show grew its audience among key demographic groups, not just geezers.
You have to credit not only Jeff Fager, the show's EP, for freshening up the show's list of star presenters while not sacrificing the meaty stories about the global war on terror and the environment. You also, though, have to credit Sean McManus, who has taken full advantage of his dual role as president of CBS news and sports to ensure that as much of the desirable sports audience is handed off to "60 Minutes" as possible Sunday afternoons.
It wasn't a perfect season — I think we all could've done without that Lesley Stahl freakout over the Windows computer virus - and lauding Ken Lewis as the smartest big banker in America didn't quite go according to plan either ... Lesley.
Still, I wouldn't think of not watching. And in this sea of video choices, that says something. It says that I'm getting old.
PR follows.
"60 MINUTES" TURNS IN ITS BEST SEASON IN YEARS, INCREASING VIEWERS BY 10 PERCENT AND ATTAINING ITS HIGHEST NIELSEN RANKING IN NEARLY A DECADE
Grows its Audience in all Key Demos, Including Adults 18-49
The 60 MINUTES audience grew by +10 percent over the 2008-'09 season, defying the industry trend and driving America's number-one news program up the Nielsen rankings to its highest season finish since 2000.
The CBS News magazine, according to the most current Nielsen data, ended the season averaging 14.29 million viewers -- the program's best since the 2001-'02 season (14.85m) and more than double the average audience of its nearest news magazine competitor. This represents a +10 percent increase from last season's 12.95 million average.
60 MINUTES also earned its highest Nielsen ranking since the 1999-'00 season, finishing at number 13 among all primetime programs. In Nielsen's weekly rankings, 60 MINUTES made the list 17 out of 31 telecasts, with eight top-five rankings, plus two straight weeks as America's number-one broadcast, the first time that has hapened in 16 years.
In addition to the +10 percent increase in total viewers, the broadcast grew its audience in other key demographics. 60 MINUTES was up +8 percent in adults 18-49 (2.8/8 from 2.6/7), +7 percent in households (9.0/15 from 8.4/14) and +6 percent in adults 25-54 (3.8/10 from 3.6/9).
CBS News and Sports President Sean McManus said, "I credit Jeff Fager and his team for once again setting the standard for the entire industry. With respect to quality, relevance and television ratings, 60 MINUTES is truly in a class by itself."
"It has been an extraordinary season by every measure," said 60 MINUTES Executive Producer Jeff Fager, “and it makes us proud that our gains came with important interviews and solid reporting on the big stories of the year.”
60 MINUTES' outstanding season – the first to be broadcast entirely in high definition --was marked by timely reports on the economy, the presidential election and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, plus big news-making interviews and 60 MINUTES trademark investigations, features and profiles. Among the highlights: Steve Kroft's first post-election interview with President-elect Barack Obama, which drew 25.1 million viewers; the first interview with hero pilot Capt. Chesley Sullenberger conducted by Katie Couric; Scott Pelley's interview of Ben Bernanke - the first interview with a sitting Federal Reserve chairman in 20 years; Lara Logan's report from the battlefield in Afghanistan; Lesley Stahl's report on the giant Saudi Arabian oil company ARAMCO; Morley Safer's classic look at an Italian wine business run for 600 years by the same family; and Bob Simon's report from Israel's West Bank on the troubles between Israelis and Palestinians. Click here for 60 MINUTES' season highlights.
