The "60 Minutes" interview with Stormy Daniels about her alleged affair with President Donald Trump brought in the show's highest ratings in 10 years.
About 22.1 million people tuned into Sunday's episode which also featured a profile of NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo, according to CBS.
The show achieved a 16.3 rating and a 27 share in the 56 Nielsen metered markets. Using Nielsen's estimates from the 2017-18 TV season, that would be approximately 19.5 million households. The episode was its best metered performance in a decade, topped only by the first post-election interview with President-elect Barack Obama and Michelle Obama in 2008. A ratings point is 1 percent of the total number of households, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and Nielsen's national TV panel. The figures for the current season are released every August.
During the sit-down segment with Anderson Cooper, Daniels recounted her alleged one-time sexual relationship with Trump. Daniels, an adult film star whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, also told Cooper how she was threatened by an unknown man in a Las Vegas parking lot to stop talking about the encounter. She said she was with her infant daughter at the time. Daniels said she signed a nondisclosure agreement with Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen over fears for her safety.
CBS' "60 Minutes" landed the interview after Daniels and her lawyer Michael Avenatti directly reached out to the show. Avenatti was previously interviewed on "60 Minutes" for his case against Halyard Health and Kimberly-Clark, as well as another case against a California cemetery his clients alleged were desecrating remains. Cooper and "60 Minutes" producer Andy Court had worked on those previous stories as well.
Daniels and Avenatti said she was offered as much as $1 million by other outlets to tell her story, but decided to go with the news program for free in order to tell her side of the story through a reputable organization.
This story was updated to reflect official viewership numbers from CBS.