Viewers recently saw Tony Dokoupil take over on CBS Evening News. After a month in this role, numbers have come out for the program’s rating. Since then, fans can compare how the show has been doing since last week, last year, and even against ABC and NBC’s other nightly news programs.
Tony Dokoupil Made His CBS Evening News Debut A Bit Earlier Than Expected
As a broadcaster, Dokoupil became known to many for his work with CBS, notably co-hosting CBS Mornings. Prior to this, he was known for working with outlets including NBC News, MSNBC, Newsweek, and The Daily Beast.
Recently, however, viewers saw Dokoupil take over as anchor for CBS Evening News. This came out during a recent shakeup at the network following Bari Weiss being installed as CBS News’ new editor-in-chief.
Dokoupil was originally intended to make his debut on January 5, 2026. However, he actually made his debut a few days earlier to cover the breaking news of the United States’ strikes in Venezuela.
As previously reported, Dokoupil’s new role has not been without criticism. Megyn Kelly, at one point, criticized Dokoupil for being emotional during a segment in which he touched on leaving his childhood home in Florida at a young age. At the time, Kelly felt such emotions should be reserved for more serious moments. More recently, Dokoupil was also criticized for bringing his mother in to weigh in on a story concerning the mental health of grandparents.
Ratings Have Come Out For ABC, CBS, & NBC’s Nightly News Programs
Dokoupil has only been in his current role at CBS Evening News for around a month. Since then, ratings have come out for the broadcast, in addition to some of the program’s rivals.
According to Adweek, which cited national live+same-day big data and Nielsen ratings, CBS Evening News drew 4.538 million total viewers. Of this number, 623,000 of these viewers were in the key “25-54” demo for the week of January 26.
Notably, this was down by around 7% in total viewers. It was also down 8% in the demo compared to the previous week.
The CBS program was also down year over year, with a 6% drop in total views, with a 9% drop in the demo compared to the same week in 2025. Notably, the same week also saw John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois make their debut following Norah O’Donnell‘s exit.
The outlet also shared numbers for a few of CBS’ competitors. For example, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir drew 9.244 million total viewers. During the week of January 26, 1.182 million viewers were in the key demo. This gave the series a slight increase in percentage compared to the previous week as well as last year.
Meanwhile, NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas came in second behind ABC, averaging 7.150 million total viewers. 1.040 million viewers were said to be in the demo. While the numbers were up compared to the previous week, the demo dropped 5% the same week last year. However, the show was still up 3% in total viewers during this time.
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John Witiw has been a writer since at least 2015. He’s covered a variety of topics, especially when it comes to film and television.
