Suddenly, “CBS Evening News” is again the place executives on the information division behind the present hoped by no means to return.
Viewership for this system, anchored by Tony Dokoupil since the start of the year, has as soon as once more dropped under 4 million, a crucial demarcation level that beforehand spurred alarm on the Paramount Skydance information division. CBS News lately scrapped a version of “CBS Evening News” anchored by Maurice DuBois and John Dickerson after this system shed viewers and fell under 4 million viewers on many weeknights.
The general viewers for this system for the 5 days ended March 13 stood at almost 3.83 million, in line with information from Nielsen, and at 468,000 amongst viewers between 25 and 54, the demographic most coveted by advertisers.
In distinction, ABC’s “World News Tonight,” lengthy the main program among the many three broadcast-network night information exhibits, received a median of almost 8.48 million, in line with Nielsen, together with 1.03 million within the demo. NBC’s “NBC Nightly News” captured a median of 6.51 million general in the identical interval, and 946,000 within the demo.
CBS News “retitled” the Friday broadcast of “Evening News,” so its outcomes aren’t included within the tabulations.
One reason Dokoupil was moved from a perch on “CBS Mornings” to become anchor of the show is as a result of CBS News executives fearful they have been falling additional behind ABC’s “World News Tonight” and NBC’s “NBC Nightly News” with Dickerson and DuBois, who led a present that targeted extra closely on enterprise tales and information options than it did on breaking headlines. Now these issues are poised to rise anew.
Quarter up to now as of March 12, “CBS Evening News” has shed 15% of its viewership within the crucial 25-to-54 demo, the viewers most sought-after by advertisers in information programming, in contrast with the year-earlier interval. In comparability, NBC’s “NBC Nightly News” is up 8% within the demo, whereas ABC’s “World News Tonight” is off 4%.
When Norah O’Donnell ended her tenure at “CBS Evening News” in 2024, she left with an viewers of almost 5.4 million. Dokoupil’s first 5 days, from Jan. 5-9, (*4*), in line with information from Nielsen — and in a subsequent week, he even nabbed an viewers of 4.6 million.
The slide in viewers comes after CBS News took Dokoupil across the nation and into the Middle East simply after the battle erupted between Iran and the U.S. and Israel. Dokoupil was the one one of many so-called “Big Three” evening-news anchors to get so near the battle.
Dokoupil has gained traction over time throughout his time as a co-anchor on “CBS Mornings,” and he received the discover of each former CBS News president Susan Zirinsky and present CBS News editor in chief Bari Weiss. He has demonstrated a proclivity for creating fascinating options, and, extra lately, for taking up writer Ta-Nehisi Coates on whether his writing expressed antipathy for Israel.
CBS News executives ascribe some portion of the viewership outcomes to adjustments tied to the latest shift to sunlight saving time, in line with an individual accustomed to the matter. And they’ve been inspired by outcomes that present Dokoupil’s “Evening News” gaining viewers compared with broadcasts of the present from earlier within the season. The present’s viewership is up 7% in viewers and up 10% amongst viewers between 25 and 54 compared with the common viewership of the present season up to now.
