Viewers turn, turn, turn to 60 Minutes, CNN's Blitzer
Two of TV’s bastions of traditional journalism, the CBS newsmagazine 60 Minutes and CNN’s three-hour daily Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, received good ratings news Tuesday. It was further evidence that in these complicated and troubled times, Americans are turning to sources of trusted, reliable, fact-based information for help in making sense of their lives.
Led by correspondent Anderson Cooper’s profile of swimmer Michael Phelps, 60 Minutes continued its remarkable ratings run finishing as the third-highest ranked show on TV last week with an audience of 18.64 million people. It was the sixth time in 10 weeks that the 40-year-old Sunday night staple had finished in the Nielsen top 10. Sunday’s lineup also included an investigation of online gambling done in partnership with the Washington Post.
CNN’s The Situation Room, meanwhile, became cable’s highest-rated news program during November among the key news demographic of viewers 25 to 54 years of age from 4 to 7 p.m. each weekday. The three-hour sweep is a major victory for CNN, with its commitment to providing news coverage “down the middle” in the words of its president Jonathan Klein, over ideologically-based rivals MSNBC and Fox.
At 4 p.m., The Situation Room averaged 402,000 demo viewers. That is 20 percent ahead of Fox News’ Your World average of 336,000 and 91 percent more than MSNBC Live’s 210,000.
At 5 p.m., The Situation Room averaged 418,000 demo viewers. That is a 24 percent advantage over the 338,000 for Fox News’ Election Headquarters and 32 percent ahead of the 317,000 for MSNBC’s Hardball.
At 6 p.m., The Situation Room averaged 508,000 demo viewers, which is 4 percent ahead of the 487,000 for Fox News’ Special Report with Brit Hume, and 67 percent ahead of the 305,000 for MSNBC’s Race to the White House.
“The idea that we can be No. 1 in cable news producing the kind of journalism we produce day in and day out is unbelievably rewarding,” Sam Feist, CNN’s political director, said in a statement.
As reported here previously, November has been very good to 60 Minutes as well. It boasts the highest rated single hour of TV for the season with its interview of president-elect Barack Obama and future first Lady Michelle Obama.
Season to date, the newsmagazine has experienced audience increases across all demographics. Overall, the program is currently ranked ninth for the season -- averaging 15.97 million viewers a week.
