# Inside the show America keeps watching

> How a 1968 CBS experiment became the longest running number one news program in television history.
- Title: Inside the show America keeps watching · CBS News | Shortify
- Summary: 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…
- Keywords: television, journalism, cbs, media, 60 minutes, news, Inside, show, America, keeps, watching, CBS News
- Source: CBS News — https://cbsnews.com/news/about-us-60-minutes
- Published: 2026-09-14T00:31:37+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: television, journalism, cbs, media, 60 minutes, 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.
## Key takeaway

60 Minutes has stayed on top for 52 straight years by pairing investigative reporting with a correspondent bench viewers trust.