Younger Audience

CBS

CBS Execs High On Anderson Cooper

By Alex Weprin on May 7, 2012 -- 10:31 AM

The New York Times‘ Brian Stelter writes about the flagship CBS newsmagazine “60 Minutes,”: and notes that its share of young viewers has increased, even as its overall ratings remain flat. CBS attributes this to a new generation of correspondents, including Lara Logan and CNN’s Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

In the story, CBS executives note that Gupta will have more of a presence on the newsmagazine going forward, and that Cooper is very well-regarded at The Eye network.

Mr. Cooper and Dr. Gupta’s contributions are contractually limited since they work for CNN. But Dr. Gupta, who had his first story last season, had two more this season and Mr. Fager said, “He’ll be doing more with us next year.” A CBS executive, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that were Mr. Cooper to become available to “60 Minutes” full time, he would be hired “in a heartbeat.” Mr. Cooper’s deal with CNN and with his daytime talk show extend through next year.