Thanks to a number of factors, the top-rated program on all of television last week was 60 Minutes.
The Sunday program averaged 18.47 million Total Viewers, the show’s largest audience since the same week last year.
One thing that helped the program was a strong lead-in from two tight NFL games, Indianapolis’ win over Pittsburgh and San Diego edging Kansas City.
Another reason was the content. 60 Minutes featured Steve Kroft’s election-night interview with President-elect Barack Obama’s top aides (pictured), as well as Morley Safer’s interview of Ted Turner.
With Election Night viewership spread across all broadcast networks, and the cablers, the CBS program surpassed all channels. This was the second consecutive week and the fourth time in the last seven weeks 60 Minutes made the top 10.
> Update: From Bill Gorman of TVByTheNumbers.com: “While it might have been the top-rated program in all broadcast *prime-time* television, I’d wager that one or more Sunday afternoon NFL game national broadcasts topped it. We don’t see last weeks non-prime-time sports numbers until Friday, but I will follow up if I remember.”
Either way, it looks like Sean McManus wins (with sports during the day and 60 Minutes in prime time).