Tony Dokoupil’s ‘CBS Evening News’ Era Keeps Hemorrhaging Viewers to Record Lows | Chart
Tony Dokoupil has steered “CBS Evening News” for 16 weeks now. But as the show’s ratings continue to decline, it appears he’s captaining a ship fighting an impossible current.
The Dokoupil-led “Evening News” hit its lowest-rated month in total viewers since the anchor took over, averaging less than 3.9 million viewers throughout April. In the advertiser-coveted 25-54 age demographic, the show is averaging 497,000 viewers, its lowest April in the demo this century. But the show is up 2% in total viewers from April 2025, which remains its lowest-rated April in total viewers this century. (Status first reported some of the figures.)
The numbers reflect a dismal start to Dokoupil’s second quarter in the anchor chair, raising questions over whether his stewardship can turn around the perennially third-place program. The show averaged 4.279 million viewers in its first quarter, down 7% from the same period last year, while its 25-54 audience was at 535,000 viewers, down nearly 20%.
“Tony Dokoupil is an exceptional talent and experienced journalist who continues to build a program designed to reach audiences wherever they consume the news,” a CBS News spokesperson told TheWrap.
Throughout April, more than three weeks averaged under 4 million total viewers, including every weekday between April 13 and April 24. The show’s lowest-rated week was last week, averaging 3.78 million total viewers and 467,000 viewers in the demo. But some hope emerged on Monday’s broadcast, which saw Dokoupil anchor from outside the White House after a shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, earning 4.3 million total viewers.
“Evening News” was Bari Weiss’ first major programming overhaul since she became CBS News’ editor-in-chief in October, as the show posted a ratings average of 3.75 million total viewers and 435,000 in the demo. The John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois-led telecast was largely seen as needing a revamp, and Dokoupil, one of the longtime anchors of “CBS Mornings,” was seen as a likely replacement given his years at the network and his seemingly shared sympathies with Weiss on Israel.
The broadcast he intended to produce, he said in a pre-debut message, was to dismiss “the analysis of academics or elites” in favor of an average viewer’s voice and to be “more accountable and more transparent” than “Evening News” stalwart Walter Cronkite. But since taking over, Dokoupil has weathered criticism over his coverage of the Trump administration and his interviews with some Trump officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and President Donald Trump himself.
Network executives believe the continued decline is attributable to general viewership trends, according to an individual familiar with the matter, which have seen audiences pivot from linear television toward streaming platforms and YouTube. The individual said there was no expectation that Dokoupil would turn around the show’s flagging ratings within 16 weeks, and they believe his revamped show should be his ultimate priority and that it would continue an upward trajectory in the numbers compared to last year.
Still, they acknowledged there was no timetable for when those results may appear. It comes as competitors such as ABC News’ “World News Tonight” averaged 8.54 million viewers and roughly 1.1 million in the demo —more than double CBS News’ numbers — and NBC’s “Nightly News” averaged 6.17 million total viewers and 831,000 in the demo last week.
Weiss told staffers in January that ratings were not her ultimate measure of success.
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