Tony Dokoupil’s CBS Evening News stayed below the 4 million viewer mark for a sixth straight week, averaging 3.81 million viewers last week as the network’s evening newscast continued to lag its two biggest broadcast rivals. NBC Nightly News drew 5.97 million viewers and ABC World News Tonight pulled in 7.89 million.
The latest week kept alive a ratings slide that began in late March and early April, when the program first slipped under the benchmark and never recovered. For CBS, the numbers are especially stark because the week beginning April 20 was the lowest-rated since Dokoupil, 45, took over the anchor’s chair in January, with approximately 3.7 million viewers tuning in.
That makes last week’s 3.81 million viewers a modest improvement from the low point, but not enough to change the larger picture. A source familiar with the network said the show is up this month versus last May in total viewership and in the 25-54 demographic, and also improved over the previous week. Even so, the evening broadcast remains well behind NBC and ABC in a time slot where the gap matters most.
Dokoupil arrived at the desk with a pointed message for the audience. Before his first broadcast, he complained about legacy media having often missed the story, and that posture has shaped the early reaction to his run. Staffers took issue with his brief both-sides treatment of the anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection and with his flattery of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, tensions that came as the program underwent staffing changes including the firing of a senior producer and buyouts for several other employees.
The ratings story now sits inside a broader leadership picture at CBS News. Dokoupil was named anchor by CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss, who had no prior television experience before David Ellison selected her to lead the newsroom. A CBS spokesperson said, “Bari has the full support of Paramount and David Ellison as the editorial leader overseeing CBS News and 60 Minutes.”
That public backing matters because it pushes against reporting that Weiss’s influence over the network’s shows may be fading. CBS has disputed that account, and separately said Weiss plans to open 60 Minutes to Tony Dokoupil and CBS outsiders, a signal that the newsroom is still being remade even as the evening news audience remains stubbornly below where the network needs it to be.
For now, the numbers say the same thing week after week: CBS Evening News is no longer in crisis territory, but it is still not close to catching NBC or ABC, and the burden is on Dokoupil and his new leadership to show that the audience can be rebuilt before the gap becomes permanent.
