Tony Dokoupil’s First Week As ‘CBS Evening News’ Anchor Down Year Over Year; ‘World News Tonight’ Tops Viewers, ‘Nightly News’ Wins 25-54 Demo
Tony Dokoupil‘s debut week as anchor of CBS Evening News averaged 4.17 million viewers, down from 23% from the same period in 2025.
In the 25-54 demo, CBS Evening News averaged 533,000, compared to 690,000 in the same week of January a year ago. The broadcast averaged 5.4 million viewers in the first full week of 2025, which included coverage of the California wildfires.
That said, CBS News has pointed to ratings gains season to date, as Dokoupil’s debut was up vs. the fourth quarter, when evening broadcast averaged 4.03 million viewers and 502,000 in the 25-54 demo. John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois anchored the broadcast before departing the network last month.
All of the networks saw audience declines vs. 2025.
World News Tonight led the networks, averaging 8.08 million viewers, down 9% from 8.87 million a year earlier. NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas averaged 6.73 million, down 9% from 7.38 million during the same week in 2025.
In the 25-54 demo, NBC Nightly News won the week with an average of 992,000, compared to 1.16 million a year ago. World News Tonight averaged 989,000, compared to 1.34 million in 2025.
Dokoupil’s debut was down versus the week of Jan. 27, when Dickerson and DuBois made their debut in the anchor share. The duo averaged 4.91 million viewers and 655,000 in the 25-54 demo, with the news then was dominated by Trump’s first days of his second term.
More to come.
