‘CBS Evening News’ Ratings for Tony Dokoupil Show Demo Decline

CBS Evening News’ losing streak continues. But not only is the Tony Dokoupil-anchored program running in last place, but it’s also losing viewers in the advertiser-friendly Adults 25–54 demographic.

For the week of July 6, CBS Evening News averaged 3.788 million total viewers and 497,000 viewers in the demo, according to live and same-day Nielsen viewership data cited by TVNewser. That’s a 1-percent gain in total viewers, but a 1-percent loss in demo viewers.

In fact, CBS Evening News is the only evening news program on broadcast TV to have lost 25-to-54-year-old viewers week over week. It’s also the only one to lose viewers year over year, too, down 2 percent in total viewers and 1 percent since the same time in 2025.

NBC Nightly News YouTube; CBS Evening News YouTube; ABC World News Tonight YouTube

By comparison, ABC World News Tonight, anchored by David Muir, came in first place during the week of July 6, with an average of 8.291 million total viewers and 1.058 million demo viewers, a 2-percent rise in total viewers and a 10-percent rise in demo viewers week over week. Year over year, the program is up 14 percent in total viewers and up 7 percent in demo viewers.

And Tom Llamas’ NBC Nightly News came in second place for the week, with 6.380 million total viewers, up 4 percent week over week, and 935,000 demo viewers, up 9 percent. Compared against the same week last year, the program was up 14 percent in total viewers and up 9 percent in the demo.

Dokoupil’s tenure as CBS Evening News anchor got off to a rocky start in January — when he controversially distanced the program from legacy media and expert commentary, gave major screen time to a polarizing interview with Pete Hegseth, suffered humiliating on-air mix-ups during his official first broadcast, offered a much-criticized take on the January 6 Capital riots, got a legal threat from the White House, and spurred mockery by interviewing his mom.

And CBS News has racked up negative press so far this year under editor-in-chief Bari Weiss and corporate boss David Ellison. Weiss has let several CBS News veterans go, including ones who have accused leadership of politicized editorial interference. And several more employees have quit, including CBS Evening News producer Alicia Hastey.

In a farewell note to colleagues, Hastey said that CBS News stories “may instead be evaluated not just on their journalistic merit but on whether they conform to a shifting set of ideological expectations — a dynamic that pressures producers and reporters to self-censor or avoid challenging narratives that might trigger backlash or unfavorable headlines.”