The much-hyped interview between Anderson Cooper and Stormy Daniels has finally aired on 60 Minutes. Interest in the porn star's story of an alleged affair with President Donald has built in the weeks since the story first broke, and the odds were that CBS would score some big ratings with the broadcast, although it was difficult to predict how the Stormy Daniel's interview would compare with other much-hyped interviews on the show. Now, the numbers are in, and we know that the Stormy Daniels interview on 60 Minutes was a huge hit.
According to time-adjusted Live+Same day calculations, the March 25 episode of 60 Minutes was watched by an audience of 22.06 million people and scored a rating of 5.3 in the key 25-54 age demographic and a 4.0 in the 18-49 demographic. No, not one of those numbers is a typo. The news program was indeed watched by more than 20 million people with a rating of 5.3 in 25-54 and 4.0 in the valuable 18-49 demo, which is a bump over more than 100% from the previous week's numbers.
The 22.06 million viewers makes the Stormy Daniels interview on 60 Minutes the show's largest audience in almost a decade, since the November 2008 interview with Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, shortly after the election that made him president. That broadcast won an audience of 24.5 million viewers. Given that the March 25 interview was with a porn star rather than the president-elect of the United States, I'd say that it's safe to assume that public interest in Stormy Daniels is very, very high.
60 Minutes also managed to beat its previous highest-rated broadcast with the March 25 interview. The 5.3 in the 25-54 demo and 4.0 in 18-49 mark the highest demographic ratings in more than two years. The previous record was held by the January 17, 2016 broadcast that featured an interview with Sean Penn regarding his meeting with infamous Mexican drug lord El Chapo. All things considered, 60 Minutes had a very big night on March 25.
In fact, 60 Minutes could rank as the top program in viewership for the week, which would be the first time since March 26, 2017. The early numbers indicate that 60 Minutes is poised to rank as the top program in 25-54 and 18-49 on March 25, although it's possible that the NCAA broadcast will turn in higher ratings. We'll have to wait and see on that particular front.
It should be interesting to see how the second broadcast of the interview fares in the ratings. Deadline reports that the interview will air again on Anderson Cooper's primetime CNN show, Anderson Cooper 360, tonight at 8 p.m. ET. If you missed the CBS broadcast and want to watch it for yourself, you can find it on CNN in primetime. With only occasional exceptions, CNN doesn't deliver the highest numbers in cable news, so a large audience for the Stormy Daniels interview could be a very big deal.
For more viewing options, check out our midseason TV premiere guide. 60 Minutes isn't in danger of cancellation, but many other series are. If you're not up on the shows that have already gotten the axe, be sure to take a look at our rundown of TV renewals and cancellations.
