Is Tony Dokoupil’s ‘CBS Evening News’ Overhaul Worth the Trouble?

Bari Weiss’ handpicked anchor Tony Dokoupil has made a fair share of headlines in his first 10 days since taking over “CBS Evening News” — including about the show’s slipping ratings — but has the increased attention and scrutiny been worth the trouble for CBS News?

Following in Weiss’ footsteps, Dokoupil, who replaced John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois less than a year into their tenure, has shaken up the program as it returns to a one-anchor format. But his first few weeks have drawn criticism for his congenial coverage of the Trump administration, his audacious vow to be more transparent than Walter Cronkite and his “both sides” coverage of topics such as the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and an ICE agent in Minneapolis shooting and killing a woman.

During Dokoupil’s first week, Jan. 5-11, “CBS Evening News” averaged 4.17 million viewers and 533,000 viewers in the 25-54 demo, according to Nielsen big data plus panel live-plus-same-day figures. Ratings were down 23% in both measures compared to the same week last year and were also down compared to the debut of Dickerson and DuBois during the week of Jan. 27, 2025, with total viewers for Dokoupil down 15% while demo viewers saw a 19% downtick.

Both weeks used for comparison, however, marked a turbulent 2025 news cycle amid the California wildfires and Trump’s inauguration, which could have inflated ratings.

Dokoupil’s new gig is also not prime for ratings growth — even with a big marketing push from CBS News, including a flashy travel week airing broadcasts across different cities like Minneapolis, in response to the Renee Good killing, to San Francisco and Miami. All broadcast news networks are facing year-over-year ratings downticks amid declining linear viewership across the board, with the competing evening news programs from NBC News down 9% in viewers and 14% in the demo, and No. 1 ABC News faces a 9% decrease in viewers and 26% in the demo.

That said, Dokoupil’s first week surpassed season-to-date averages for both measures, with total viewers up 4% and demo viewers up 8%. And compared to the week of Dec. 29, which saw “Evening News” average 4.05 million viewers and 486,000 viewers, Dokoupil’s first week was up 3% in total viewers and 10% in demo viewers.

CBS News has firmly been in third place compared to its ABC and NBC counterparts, and Dokoupil’s first week was no exception: CBS trailed in third place as ABC’s “World News Tonight” scored 8.1 million viewers and 989,000 demo viewers and NBC’s “Nightly News” earned 6.7 million viewers and 992,000 demo viewers, outpacing CBS by 94% and 61% in viewers, respectively.

“Nightly News,” hosted by Tom Llamas, beat ABC’s “World News Tonight” in the 25-54 demo for the first time in nearly six years outside Olympics coverage. “World News Tonight,” hosted by David Muir, is still far ahead of both “Nightly News” and “Evening News” in total viewers.

While the eyes on Dokoupil’s debut might not have boosted linear viewership, his start has translated into growth across digital and social platforms, with “CBS Evening News” article traffic up 229% when compared to the 2025 weekly average, while total minutes on YouTube soared 58% over the 2025 weekly average.

On social media, Tony Dokoupil’s report from the scene of the Renee Good shooting reached 17 million total views across platforms, while his interview with Hegseth from his first broadcast scored 5.2 million views. His interview with Donald Trump on Monday has already reached 8 million total views across social platforms. 

While ratings aren’t yet available for Dokoupil’s interview with Trump, which aired Tuesday night, it’s possible the conversation will give the evening news program at least one notable ratings win this month.

“Live with Kelly and Mark” notches best performance in 10 months for Christmas week

A week of festival holiday programming on “Live with Kelly and Mark” boosted the daytime talk show to reach a season high with the show’s best performance in 10 months as the week averaged 2.6 million viewers. The week’s total average viewership, which was up 2% from the previous week, saw growth for the second week in a row. In fact, “Live with Kelly and Mark” also saw gains in the 25-54 demo, which soared 12% week-over-week, as well as the women 25-54 demo, which saw the show’s audience grow by 4%.

Packers-Bears game sets new NFL streaming record

Just weeks after the Lions-Vikings game set a new record for the most-streamed NFL game in history with 27.5 million viewers on Christmas Day, Prime Video set another record with the Packers-Bears Wild Card playoff with 31.6 million viewers, according to Nielsen’s big data plus panel figures.

The Packers-Bears game was up 43% year-over-year viewership when compared to last year’s wild card playoff game with the Steelers and Ravens, which averaged 22.1 million viewers on Prime Video.

“Shifting Gears” posts season-best viewership

The sitcom scored its best Season 2 total viewership with the winter premiere on Jan. 7, which drew 4.36 million total viewers and scored a 0.41 rating in the key broadcast demo among adults 18-49. The show scored its biggest audience since its season premiere back in October, which scored 4.37 million viewers as viewers tuned in for the “Home Improvement” reunion.

Corbin Bolies contributed to this story.

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