From CBS News · · 1m 20s
Inside the show America keeps watching
How a 1968 CBS experiment became the longest running number one news program in television history.
In brief
How a 1968 CBS experiment became the longest running number one news program in television history. 60 Minutes has stayed on top for 52 straight years by pairing investigative reporting with a correspondent bench viewers trust. Originally reported by CBS News.
Born in 1968
Don Hewitt created 60 Minutes and it premiered on CBS in September of that year. The newsmagazine format it invented is still the template rivals copy.
Fifty two years at number one
The 2025-26 broadcast closed out 52 consecutive years as America's most watched news program. No other show has come close to that run.
“marking 52 consecutive years as America's #1 news program”
Nine million a week
Season 58 averaged 9.1 million viewers and reached more than one in three Americans. For a Sunday night hour of reporting, that is a remarkable share.
Two and a half billion views
Social video views passed 2.5 billion, more than double the previous record. The stopwatch found a second life on phones.
A trophy case with no rival
26 Peabody awards, more Emmys than any other primetime broadcast, and 26 seasons inside Nielsen's annual top 10. That last record no program has approached.
“a record never approached by another program”
Who makes it now
Nick Bilton runs the broadcast. Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker, Jon Wertheim, Norah O'Donnell and Ross Douthat report it, Sundays at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
The main idea
60 Minutes has stayed on top for 52 straight years by pairing investigative reporting with a correspondent bench viewers trust.
