The plunge in viewership comes as Weiss has ushered in an era of Trump-friendly politics for the network.
CBS’s “The Evening News” lost more than a million viewers in its first week under new anchor Tony Dokobell compared to the same period last year. This setback is all the more significant for the network given that its billionaire owners appointed Barry Weiss, a controversial figure of the far right, as editor-in-chief in October.
Data from Nielsen, the audience measurement company, shows that the show lost nearly a quarter of its viewers during Dokobell’s first five days on air, from January 5 to 9, compared to the same period last year.
While the show averaged 5.4 million viewers per day during the same period last year, according to Variety, it drew only 4.17 million this year. Variety notes that the launches of previous anchors typically attracted 5 million viewers or more.
The data revealed a nearly 25% drop in viewership among 25- to 54-year-olds, the demographic advertisers consider their primary target audience for news programs, falling from 690,000 viewers last year to 533,000.
Docupelle was promoted to host the show, previously hosted by Norah O’Donnell, because he was seen as the preferred voice of President Donald Trump’s fascist movement, following reports that Weiss had failed to recruit Bret Baier from Fox News.
This sharp drop in viewership comes amid a radical shift in the network’s stance toward the far right and its support for Trump, under Weiss’s leadership.
Weiss’s brief tenure was marked by a series of scandals, notably his abrupt decision in December to cancel a “60 Minutes” episode that would have revealed the “brutal” conditions in which hundreds of migrants were detained in a Salvadoran prison under the Trump administration.
Just weeks after taking office, Docopil invited numerous right-wing figures and billionaires onto his show, and analysts noted his change in rhetoric toward right-wing figures, particularly those close to Trump.
Last week, just days after the Trump administration bombed Venezuela and illegally kidnapped its president, Dokopil ran a news report featuring AI-generated images of Secretary of State Marco Rubio in various outfits, including one depicting him as the “new Shah of Iran,” a satirical reference to Rubio’s multiple roles in the administration.
He stated, “Whatever your views on his political leanings, you have to admit his resume is impressive. Marco Rubio, we salute you.” The White House shared the clip online in support of him.
Before taking office, Dokopil had already made headlines for racist and offensive remarks he made during a 2024 interview with author Ta-Nehisi Coates, during a series of questions about the section on Palestine in his book, The Message. CBS reprimanded him for the comments.
Weiss seems to have relished the controversy, despite the declining ratings of one of the network’s most popular newscasts. In a memo to the producers of “CBS Evening News” before Dokopil’s U.S. tour, which marked the start of her tenure as anchor, she reportedly told the staff that she wanted the network “to be the news,” not just report it.
“Let’s make sure that every night includes a story with broad reach,” Weiss wrote in a memo to the producers obtained by The New York Times. “The purpose of this traveling show is not just to relay the news, but to actively promote it.”
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