CBS Evening News Struggles with Low Ratings Under New Host

The CBS Evening News is having trouble getting people to watch. Tony Dokoupil became the new host of the show in January 2025. But the ratings have been going down since he started. For three weeks in a row, fewer than 4 million people watched the show.

The show only had 3.771 million viewers during the week of April 20. That's much less than the other big news shows on TV. ABC World News Tonight had 8.537 million viewers during the same week. NBC Nightly News had 6.168 million viewers. This shows that CBS Evening News is in third place by a lot.

The show also struggles with younger viewers between ages 25 and 54. Only 467,000 people in that age group watched the show. TV companies really want viewers in this age group because they buy more products. For three weeks, the show has stayed below 500,000 viewers in this important group.

People at CBS say the numbers are getting better, not worse. They point out that viewership has grown by 2% since Dokoupil started. CBS was the only evening news show that gained viewers from March to April this year. A CBS worker said building an audience takes time and patience.

Tony Dokoupil used to work on CBS Mornings with Gayle King and Nate Burleson. He got the evening job in December after Norah O'Donnell left the show. CBS leaders picked him because they think he can help people trust the news again. They believe he asks tough questions and follows the facts.

Dokoupil made some mistakes during his first few days as host. He mixed up a reporter's name with the governor of Minnesota. He also called Minnesota the Great Lake State, but that's actually Michigan's nickname. These errors happened on live TV in front of millions of viewers.

Dokoupil has worked at CBS News since 2016 and has covered many big stories. He reported on the attack in Israel on October 7 and the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. He has also interviewed famous people like Dolly Parton, Harry Styles, and Jennifer Lopez. His experience shows he knows how to handle important news events.