Tony Dokoupil has settled into his new role as CBS Evening News anchor, but the show continues to lose viewers at a steeper rate than its rivals on ABC and NBC.
Since taking over from John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois on January 5, 2026, Dokoupil has maintained higher ratings than his predecessors had in the final months of their tenure. However, that lead is shrinking as the Evening News‘ average audience has fallen in recent weeks.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, citing Nielsen figures, CBS Evening News has fallen under 4 million viewers per night in three of the past four weeks, with a low of 3.5 million in the week of March 23. While ABC’s World News Tonight and NBC Nightly News have also dropped below their recent averages, the gap between CBS and its rivals is much wider.
CBS Evening News has averaged around 4.13 million total viewers and 521,000 viewers in the key Adults 25-54 demographic since CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss promoted Dokoupil in January. This is up slightly on Dickerson and DuBois, who averaged about 4.02 million viewers and 498,5000 demo viewers in the first 15 weeks of the season.
However, over the past month, CBS Evening News has continued to shed viewers. Since March 23, the show has averaged 3.78 million viewers and 479,000 demo viewers, an 11 percent drop in both measured categories from Dokoupil’s previous average.
The David Muir-anchored World News Tonight and the Tom Llamas-anchored Nightly News have also seen drops in the past four weeks, though not to the same extent. World News Tonight was down 3 percent in both viewers and the demo, while Nightly News was down 7 percent in viewers and 9 percent in the demo.
Overall, ABC held onto the top spot for the first quarter, averaging 8.33 million viewers and 1.04 million viewers in the key demo. Nightly News landed in the No. 2 spot with an average of 6.29 million viewers and 920,000 demo viewers.
CBS Evening News, Weeknights, 6:30/5:30c, CBS
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