“CBS Evening News” has unexpectedly found itself back in a situation that its executives hoped to avoid, with viewership once again dipping below the 4 million mark—a critical threshold that previously caused concern at the Paramount Skydance news division.
The program recently witnessed a drop in audience numbers, prompting CBS News to discontinue a version of “CBS Evening News” that was previously anchored by Maurice DuBois and John Dickerson. This version consistently saw its audience fall below 4 million viewers on numerous weeknights.
For the five-day period ending March 13, the program’s total viewership stood at approximately 3.83 million, according to Nielsen data, with 468,000 viewers in the highly sought-after 25-to-54 demographic.
In comparison, ABC’s “World News Tonight” maintained its lead among the three major broadcast-network evening news shows, achieving an average of nearly 8.48 million viewers and 1.03 million in the key demographic, according to Nielsen. NBC’s “NBC Nightly News” garnered an average of 6.51 million viewers overall, with 946,000 in the demographic, during the same period.
On Friday, CBS News “retitled” the “Evening News” broadcast, which resulted in its exclusion from audience tabulations.
Tony Dokoupil was moved from “CBS Mornings” to anchor the show partly due to concerns from CBS News executives about falling further behind ABC’s “World News Tonight” and NBC’s “NBC Nightly News.” Under the leadership of Dickerson and DuBois, the show emphasized enterprise stories and news features over breaking headlines, prompting renewed concerns.
As of March 12, “CBS Evening News” experienced a 15% decline in viewership within the crucial 25-to-54 demographic compared to the previous year. In contrast, NBC’s “NBC Nightly News” saw an 8% increase in this demographic, while ABC’s “World News Tonight” experienced a 4% decrease.
When Norah O’Donnell concluded her time at “CBS Evening News” in 2024, the audience was nearly 5.4 million. In Tony Dokoupil’s first five days, from January 5 to January 9, he attracted an average audience of about 4.17 million, according to Nielsen data, and in a subsequent week, the audience reached 4.6 million.
The decline in viewership occurred after CBS News sent Dokoupil on assignments across the nation and into the Middle East, following the outbreak of conflict between Iran, the U.S., and Israel. Dokoupil was notably the only anchor from the “Big Three” evening-news shows to report from such a close proximity to the conflict.
Dokoupil has gained recognition over the years as a co-anchor on “CBS Mornings,” earning attention from both Susan Zirinsky, a past CBS News President, and Bari Weiss, the current CBS News Editor in Chief. He has shown a talent for crafting compelling features and recently engaged with author Ta-Nehisi Coates on whether his work exhibited animosity toward Israel.
According to a person familiar with the situation, CBS News executives attribute some of the viewership changes to the recent switch to Daylight Savings Time. They are also encouraged by data indicating that Dokoupil’s “Evening News” is gaining viewers compared to earlier broadcasts in the season. The current viewership has increased by 7% overall and by 10% among viewers aged 25 to 54, compared to the average viewership for the current season.
