What's happened
CBS Evening News faces its worst quarter this century, with viewership dropping below 4 million amid leadership changes and format issues. Competitors ABC and NBC have seen their audiences grow, while CBS struggles with morale and potential further layoffs.
What's behind the headline?
The decline of CBS Evening News highlights the challenges traditional broadcast news faces in a competitive landscape dominated by ABC and NBC. The show’s ratings have fallen to their lowest levels in years, with weekly averages dropping below 4 million viewers. This decline is compounded by internal issues such as morale problems, staff layoffs, and format criticisms, including an overemphasis on light segments like animals and meteor sightings. The leadership’s focus on cost-cutting and superficial changes, like background reconfigurations, will not suffice to restore credibility or audience trust. The core problem lies in the failure to deliver enterprise reporting that resonates with viewers seeking substantive news. Unless CBS makes bold strategic shifts—possibly replacing key personnel or overhauling content—the show risks further erosion, which could threaten its long-term viability. The broader context suggests a shift in viewer preferences away from traditional news formats, favoring digital and on-demand content, which CBS’s current approach fails to capitalize on.
What the papers say
The New York Post reports that CBS Evening News's ratings have hit their lowest point this century, with viewership dropping to 4.3 million, down 7% from last year, and a significant decline in the key 25-54 demographic. The article highlights internal turmoil, leadership changes, and format criticisms, including an overreliance on light segments and a lack of enterprise reporting. Meanwhile, the same publication notes that ABC and NBC have seen their audiences grow, with ABC’s 'World News Tonight' averaging 8.7 million viewers and NBC’s 'Nightly News' increasing to 7 million. Alexandra Steigrad from the NY Post emphasizes that CBS’s internal struggles, including staff cuts and morale issues, are likely to worsen unless decisive action is taken, such as replacing the executive producer. The Independent adds that Dokoupil’s debut was marred by technical glitches and awkward moments, and that the show’s ratings have continued to decline, falling below 4 million again, despite initial hopes of a turnaround. Both sources agree that superficial changes and leadership instability are insufficient to address the deeper issues facing CBS News.
How we got here
CBS News has been undergoing a significant overhaul under editor-in-chief Weiss, including staff cuts and format changes, in an effort to reverse declining ratings. The show’s new anchor, Tony Dokoupil, debuted in January but has seen viewership steadily decline since then, falling below key thresholds that signal a crisis for the network’s flagship broadcast.
Go deeper
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Tony Dokoupil is an American broadcast journalist, known for his work as a co-anchor of CBS This Morning. He was also a news correspondent for CBS News and MSNBC.
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Bari Weiss is an American opinion writer and editor. From 2013 until 2017 she was an op-ed and book review editor at The Wall Street Journal. From 2017 to 2020, Weiss was an op-ed staff editor and writer about culture and politics at The New York Times.
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Thomas Edward Llamas is an American journalist who was the weekend anchor for World News Tonight on the American Broadcasting Company from 2014 to 2021. Afterward, he left ABC News for rival NBC News, with his last ABC broadcast being on January 31, 2021.