Tony Dokoupil’s makeover of the “CBS Evening News” landed with a thud in its first week.
All the buzz around Dokoupil’s takeover of the storied show hasn’t translated into ratings gold, Vanity Fair reported Tuesday, citing data from Nielsen. In the anchor’s first week, viewership plummeted 23% compared to a year ago, pulling in just 4.17 million viewers versus the 5.4 million who tuned in to Norah O’Donnell’s coverage of California wildfires and Trump’s inauguration.
The advertiser-coveted 25-54 demographic tanked 23%, dropping from 690,000 to 533,000 viewers, according to the report.
Dokoupil’s numbers look even worse compared to his competition.
ABC’s “World News Tonight” saw 8.1 million viewers, while NBC’s “Nightly News” grabbed 6.73 million.
The dismal ratings come after Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss gambled big on Dokoupil to revolutionize the broadcast after the program’s two-anchor format with Maurice DuBois and John Dickerson hemorrhaged viewers. Dokoupil fumbled during his first official broadcast and flubbed awkward segments defending vaccine policy changes and federal shootings.
While YouTube views of CBS Evening News videos jumped 58% week-over-week, Dokoupil’s debut still lagged predecessors Jeff Glor (7 million), Scott Pelley (5.72 million), and O’Donnell (5.24 million).
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