The revamped CBS Evening News is going back to its former fast-paced news presentation just weeks into a change that has seen the venerable newscast slip in the ratings.
As the program transitioned away from previous anchor Norah O’Donnell, it had adopted a format similar to that of 60 Minutes, featuring fewer stories with longer run times and more in-depth reporting.
However, ratings have continued to slide since the new format debuted in late January. For the three weeks preceding the anchor change with the CBS News program, it had averaged 5.1 million total viewers. During the week of January 27th, when the show began being helmed by John Dickerson, Maurice DuBois, and Margaret Brennan, CBS Evening News averaged 4.8 million viewers. That figure was down slightly compared to the previous week, which saw an average audience of 4.9 million viewers.
The ratings have continued to slide in the weeks following the change from O’Donnell to the new format. In its third week with the news magazine style, CBS Evening News had fallen to an average of 4.5 million nightly viewers.
Ratings challenges for the heritage news brand aren’t a new problem. When it was anchored by O’Donnell, the CBS News show continually finished in third place behind ABC World News Tonight with David Muir and NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt.
Beginning this week, CBS News has returned the nightly newscast to a higher story count with shorter run times, shifting it away from the 60 Minutes-like presentation. The network had tasked 60 Minutes Executive Producer Bill Owens with also overseeing the newscast after the exit of O’Donnell.
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