Two of CBS News’ flagship programs, “CBS Evening News” and “CBS Mornings,” are trending toward new lows under the six-month tenure of Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss, according to early Nielsen ratings.
“Evening News” is on pace for its lowest ratings since October in both total viewers and the 25-54 age demographic, while “CBS Mornings” is also on track to hit its lowest total-viewer numbers since October after a steady decline throughout the year’s first quarter.
The evening broadcast, which has faced criticism over Dokoupil’s coverage of the Trump administration, stands at 4.1 million viewers for March and 508,000 in the 25-54 demo, down from its January average (4.39 million/588,000) and February average (4.4 million/544,000).
The show is averaging 4.3 million viewers, down 7% from the same period last year. Its 25-54 audience is down 18%, at 541,000 viewers.
In the week ending March 13, Dokoupil’s total audience dipped below 4 million for the first time, though it topped that number last week. As it stands, the show is on pace for its lowest first-quarter in the 21st century, according to the Nielsen data, down 45% from 2016’s first quarter under anchor Scott Pelley.
The show had already broken 4.2 million total viewers in November and December, the final months of John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois’ roughly yearlong tenure anchoring the program, and its demo totals during those two months were also above 530,000 viewers, indicating Dokoupil’s tenure anchoring the program has had no material effect on its ratings.
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“Evening News” was Weiss’ first major programming overhaul since the controversial opinion journalist became CBS News’ editor-in-chief in October, where the show posted a ratings average of 3.75 million total viewers and 435,000 in the demo.
She installed “CBS Mornings” co-anchor Tony Dokoupil in December as the face of the perennially third-place show. The network tried to revitalize the program through an on-air graphics revamp, a national tour and Dokoupil’s vow to dismiss “the analysis of academics or elites” and be “more accountable and more transparent” than “Evening News” stalwart Walter Cronkite — a promise that drew harsh criticism from other journalists.
Dokoupil’s competitors, however, are seeing gains. ABC’s “World News Tonight With David Muir” is up 8% from last year in total viewers in the quarter, at 8.7 million viewers, while its demo total slid only 5% to 1.1 million. NBC’s “Nightly News,” which saw Tom Llamas join the anchor chair last year, is up 6% in total audience with 7 million viewers and up 7% in the demo to just over 1 million viewers. Both shows’ demos have averaged above 1 million throughout February and March as well.
“CBS Mornings,” which is set to lose executive producer Shawna Thomas even as it re-signed Gayle King, has also struggled. The morning show’s total audience ratings have fallen by roughly 200,000 viewers since December (1.98 million, 319,000), just as Dokoupil left the program, to hover around 1.7 million. Its March audience is on pace to be its lowest total viewership since October, at 1.74 million viewers, and for the quarter, it’s averaging about 1.76 million total viewers, down 13%, and 269,000 viewers, down about 27%.
This means that taking Dokoupil off the lineup on “CBS Mornings” has arguably hurt that show while also adding no measurable viewers to the evening broadcast that he joined.
NBC’s “Today,” meanwhile, has a quarterly average of 3.1 million total viewers so far this quarter, up about 13% from the same period last year, as audiences have flocked to the show for updates on the search for Savannah Guthrie’s mother. Its demo average for the quarter stands at roughly 627,000 viewers, down just 6% from the same quarter last year. ABC’s “Good Morning America” has also found success, up about 8% in total viewers (an average of 2.92 million) and 5% (497,000) in the demo.
The changes indicate Weiss’ and Paramount CEO David Ellison’s strategy of reorienting the network toward centrist viewers has not found many new viewers since Ellison spent $150 million in October to purchase her anti-woke site, the Free Press, and bring her aboard. Since then, Weiss’ tenure has been rocked by staff departures, layoffs and accusations from inside and outside the network over a politicized editorial shift.
Weiss told CBS News staffers in January that, while the majority of CBS News’ revenue comes from TV advertisers, the network was no longer “competing primarily for ratings.” Instead, it would fight for “audience share” across both linear television and streaming platforms as it charts a digital-first future.
“Winning isn’t about ratings,” she said. “It’s about making things that people can’t live without.”
Spokespeople for CBS News had no comment.
Status first reported some of the figures.
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