CBS Evening News averaged 3.83 million viewers for the week of March 9. That is the first time the show has dropped below 4 million since Tony Dokoupil took over as anchor in January.
According to the New York Post, network insiders are now saying executive producer Kim Harvey could be out unless the numbers turn around fast.
Harvey has been running CBS Evening News since August 2025. The Post’s sources are not being gentle about her situation. “The show has lost over a half a million viewers in three months,” one said.
“You’ve got to sacrifice somebody to the ratings gods.” Another called her approach “too soft,” specifically singling out the show’s habit of closing with animal segments.
“Kim’s thing is animals. She’s turning Tony into the animal anchor.” A third source framed the stakes plainly, “It’s pretty terrible. Once you’re under 4 million, you’ve got to be worried that you’re in a death spiral. If they can’t retain an audience in the middle of a war, God help you when the war ends.”
CBS pushed back. A spokesperson told the Post it was “ludicrous” to suggest an executive producer could be replaced over a camera angle change, and added that the network is “excited about the new version of the CBS Evening News” and that Dokoupil has averaged higher numbers than the show did in its last 10 weeks of 2025.
The camera angle in question shifted this week, Dokoupil now appears in front of a world map rather than in a close-up shot in front of the newsroom. CBS said the change has nothing to do with ratings.
How Did CBS News Get Here?
In October 2025, Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison appointed Bari Weiss as CBS News editor-in-chief.
Weiss is the co-founder of The Free Press, a conservative-leaning media outlet that Paramount acquired for $150 million.
She came in with no traditional news management experience and immediately began reshaping the network.
Her first major move on CBS Evening News was replacing anchors Maurice DuBois and John Dickerson with Tony Dokoupil, who had been a co-host on CBS Mornings alongside Gayle King and Nate Burleson.
Dokoupil made his debut on January 5. His first week averaged 4.17 million viewers. The following week hit 4.6 million, the high point of his tenure.
It has been going the other direction since.
For the week ending March 13, CBS Evening News averaged 3.83 million total viewers and 468,000 in the adults 25-54 demographic.
The 25-54 demo is down 15% compared to the same quarter last year. NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas averaged 6.51 million total viewers during the same period.
ABC’s World News Tonight with David Muir averaged 8.48 million. In the 25-54 demo, ABC had 1.03 million and NBC had 946,000. CBS had 468,000.
To put that in further context: when Norah O’Donnell ended her run at CBS Evening News in 2024, she was delivering around 5.4 million viewers.
DuBois and Dickerson, the anchors Dokoupil replaced, averaged 4.82 million in their first week.
Dokoupil’s debut week of 4.17 million was already below both of those numbers.
He is now below the sub-4 million threshold that reportedly triggered alarm at the network under the previous anchor team and led to that experiment being shut down.
What Else Has Gone Wrong?
The ratings are not the only problem Weiss and Dokoupil have run into since January.
Technical issues disrupted Dokoupil’s debut broadcast. He was later criticized for his coverage of the fifth anniversary of January 6, which was characterized by some observers as lenient, coverage that reportedly contributed to the departure of CBS Justice Department correspondent Scott MacFarlane.
He featured an interview with his own mother on the program. He told the public on the way into the job that “legacy media” had mishandled stories about Hunter Biden’s laptop, Hillary Clinton’s emails, and “the president’s fitness for office,” and promised to be “more accountable and more transparent” than Walter Cronkite.
Anderson Cooper departed 60 Minutes, with reports indicating he was put off by the network’s direction.
Approximately 11 of roughly 40 production staff on CBS Evening News took buyouts offered in late January.
Senior producer Javier Guzman left in January over reported issues with the show’s new direction.
Several of the departing producers had been responsible for investigative segments under the Eye on America brand, which has been de-emphasized under Dokoupil.
CBS has pointed to some positive indicators, YouTube views are up year over year, and overall viewership is up 7% compared to the season-to-date average, with a 10% gain in the 25-54 demo over the same baseline.
The network also noted that the drop coincides with the switch to daylight saving time, which historically causes a dip across all broadcast news programs.
ABC and NBC were also down that week, losing around 421,000 and 388,000 viewers respectively. CBS lost 390,000, an 18% drop compared to the middle-single-digit losses at the other two networks.
What Will Happen Next At CBS?
No decision on Harvey has been announced. CBS has denied that any personnel changes are connected to the ratings.
The show is currently in a format adjustment period, new camera setup, ongoing staff changes, and a network that is still figuring out what exactly it wants CBS Evening News to be under Bari Weiss.
What it is right now is third place, and falling. ABC’s David Muir is pulling more than double the audience.
NBC’s Tom Llamas is pulling nearly double. The show that Weiss and Dokoupil were brought in to fix is performing at or below the numbers that made the previous version unsustainable.
CBS Evening News airs weekdays at 6:30/5:30c on CBS.
