CBS News Executive Editor Bari Weiss spoke publicly for the first time about the ratings challenges the network faced during her one-year tenure, sidestepping concerns about the declining audience for the Sunday show 60 Minutes by saying it wasn’t her top priority.
“I could never build anything if I focused on precisely how many people watch the second 60 Minutes feature on any given Sunday,” she said Wednesday at an industry conference hosted by technology publication The Information. The news agency did not provide press accreditation.
Overall, Weiss said the series was doing “extremely well.”
Weiss completely overhauled 60 Minutes in late May, ousting the show’s executive producer and parting ways with three top correspondents, including Scott Pelley. But the series struggled to match last season’s audience, which averaged 9.1 million viewers per episode.
The show’s most recent episode attracted just 5.64 million viewers, “one of the program’s smallest audiences in years,” Variety reported. The show was the sixth lowest-rated weekly show episode this century, a feat also achieved by the show’s fourth episode.
The show’s ratings are heavily dependent on whether or not it is preceded by a highly-watched NFL football game. The show’s ratings have been low despite a strong run of guest bookings and news segments. The viewership hasn’t been bad either: the October 4 edition of the show averaged more than 10 million total viewers.
Weiss was also asked about parent company Skydance’s recent merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, CNN’s parent company. While Weiss was initially rumored to potentially lead the cable news network, CEO David Ellison instead opted to keep CNN CEO Mark Thompson in place — at least for now.
Asked if she would be interested in running CNN, Weiss said, “I want to focus on CBS News, believe me. It’s a pretty big challenge.”
Weiss said she wasn’t focused on the criticism of her tenure at CBS News, which came from inside and outside the building. His strategy was to “put on the blinders, shut out the noise and focus,” adding: “I don’t do anything for the sake of popularity. »
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