This Tony Dokoupil Thing Isn't Working
Lots of flubs, low ratings — is this what Bari Weiss wanted?
www.vulture.comTony Dokoupil’s CBS Evening News ratings have been mixed since he took over the anchor desk in January 2026. Early figures put his debut night around the mid-4-million viewer range, higher than CBS Evening News had seen in recent weeks but still behind the competitors’ totals. A follow-up week showed a decline versus the previous year’s first week with him at the helm, highlighting continued audience challenges in the 25–54 demo and overall viewership. Media outlets widely discussed the ratings trajectory as net sentiment around the change, noting that CBS emphasized social/digital engagement even as traditional TV ratings lagged behind World News Tonight and NBC Nightly News.[1][2][3][4]
If you’d like, I can pull more up-to-date figures from Nielsen for the latest weeks and compare Dokoupil’s current performance to the prior anchor era and to the other networks.