CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil, now several months on the job, has not been pulling in new viewers, or even retaining many existing ones, for that matter.
Dokoupil, who was tapped by MAGA-curious CBS boss Bari Weiss to revamp the network’s signature news program as she makes it more Trump-friendly, has been hit with a fresh ratings blow. His show is now consistently trailing its competitors by a large margin, according to data from Nielsen.
Ratings for the week of April 6 show that Dokoupil brought in an average of just 3.81 million total viewers and only 477,000 average viewers in the key demo of 25-54 year olds, which TV advertisers closely watch. That is down 8 percent from the previous week, and down 16 percent in the key demo.
It’s a poor showing compared to competitors ABC World News Tonight, which averaged 8.42 million total viewers and 1.07 million in the key demo, and NBC Nightly News, which saw an average of 6.43 million total viewers and 909,000 in the key demo.
The Daily Beast reached out to CBS News for comment.
CBS News has been riddled with controversy since Weiss, who had no professional experience in TV news before assuming her new role, took over the network in October.
Weiss, 42, was installed as CBS News editor-in-chief after her “anti-woke” news and opinion blog, The Free Press, was purchased by Paramount Skydance for $150 million, of which David Ellion, a son of billionaire Trump donor Larry Ellison, is the CEO.
She and Ellison, 43, have attempted to make the network more acceptable to conservatives, but that has resulted in nothing but turmoil as the network has seen buyouts, layoffs, and criticism from departing staffers due to the network’s rightward lurch. Weiss is also reportedly planning more layoffs for June.
Dokoupil’s tenure in the anchor seat has also been nothing short of tumultuous.
His debut broadcast was filled with gaffes and several awkward moments as he stumbled over the teleprompter repeatedly. His efforts to revive the primetime program have barely brought in any new viewers to CBS’s signature news program, as it has seen poor ratings for weeks, consistently trailing ABC World News Tonight and NBC Nightly News.
Early on, Dokoupil, 45, pleaded with viewers to take a chance on him leading the storied news program after being hit with low viewership.
Even before he began his new gig, his moves were seen as controversial.
The former CBS Mornings co-host, who lives in an upscale Brooklyn neighborhood, had promised to be even “more accountable and more transparent” than Walter Cronkite, one of the most iconic news anchors in U.S. history.
He also accused the “legacy media,” which he and his wife, MS NOW anchor Katy Tur, have been a part of for several years, of having “missed the story” by putting “too much weight in the analysis of academics or elites, and not enough on you.”
