‘CBS Evening News’ Launches With Tony Dokoupil to 4.4 Million Viewers, Up 9% From Season Average

Tony Dokoupil’s “CBS Evening News” launched to 4.4 million viewers, improving upon the current season’s average viewership by 9%, according to Nielsen live-plus-same-day big data plus panel viewing data.

As the first iteration of the Dokoupil-led program kicked off on Monday, Jan. 5, “CBS Evening News” also brought in 596,000 in the 25-54 demo, up 20% from the current season’s average demo. The show still finished third among broadcast evening news programs, behind ABC World News Tonight (8.2 million viewers; 1,0185,000 A25-54)and NBC Nightly News (7.2 million viewers; 1,099,000 A25-54).

Dokoupil claimed his post as the anchor of “CBS Evening News” two days ahead of schedule after the news broke of the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro Saturday.

“We’re a news show,” he said in an X post. “I think that is actually a better launch than anything else we could have come up with. The road sometimes rises to meet you, and after all, we cover the news, and – this was news.”

His first show included a lengthy interview with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, booked by CBS News editor in chief Bari Weiss, TheWrap learned. As part of his official launch as “CBS Evening News” lead anchor, Dokoupil set off on a tour across the country, branded as his “Live From America” tour.

Ahead of Dokoupil’s taking the anchor desk, he earned criticism online for his new direction for the evening news programming, that put regular Americans first rather than “advocates … academics or elites.” His message struck some viewers online as an attempt to appeal to a conservative viewership.

This new view from the network was evident during Tuesday’s broadcast, in which Dokoupil took a both-sides approach to marking the fifth anniversary of the Jan. 6 Capitol riots.

Following the Paramount-Skydance merger, Bari Weiss, the co-founder of the right-leaning Free Press, was appointed editor-in-chief of CBS News by Paramount chief David Ellison. Critics have expressed concern that under her leadership CBS is shifting to a more Trump-friendly stance at a time when journalistic scrutiny is vital. Weiss specifically came under fire last month for holding a “60 Minutes” package that exposed the “brutal and torturous conditions” Venezuelan migrants faced after the Trump administration deported them to an El Salvador prison.

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