60 Minutes saw its second-biggest audience of the season Sunday night and for the third straight time was the No. 1 non-sports program in prime time.
With 17.3 million viewers, the CBS Newsmagazine was No. 3 for the week and also made the Nielsen Top 10 in the younger demos–tying for No. 6 in A25-54 (3.9/10) and ranking No. 7 in A18-49 (2.8/08). The show is averaging 14.5 million viewers this season, up +3 percent from last season. Sunday’s broadcast included a fascinating 2-part Lesley Stahl story on a family with a rare gene mutation that researchers hope can help them find a prevention for Alzheimer’s.
But it was not the most-watched non-sports show of last week. That honor goes to NBC’s coverage of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. In fact, with an average of 24.639 million viewers and a 6.8 rating in adults 18-49, the parade is the most-watched non-sports telecast on all networks since ABC’s coverage of the Oscars on Feb. 28 (that excludes the presidential debates which aired on multiple networks.)