Matt Gutman Lifts CBS Evening News to 4.1 Million Viewers, Beating Tony Dokoupil's 17-Week High
Updated
Updated · The Daily Beast · Aug 7
Matt Gutman Lifts CBS Evening News to 4.1 Million Viewers, Beating Tony Dokoupil's 17-Week High
3 articles · Updated · The Daily Beast · Aug 7
Summary
4.1 million viewers watched CBS Evening News during Matt Gutman’s first week as substitute anchor in July, the program’s best weekly audience in 17 weeks and its first trip above 4 million since March.
Tony Dokoupil, who has anchored since January, has not cleared 4 million since the week of March 30, when he averaged 4.2 million, making Gutman’s vacation fill-in unusually strong because stand-in hosts typically lose viewers.
ABC’s David Muir was also on vacation last week, likely giving CBS and NBC some lift, but Gutman’s performance still stood out enough to generate newsroom buzz inside CBS, where staffers described him as easy to work with.
The ratings contrast lands amid a run of Dokoupil-era mishaps, including a weather-disrupted July 4 special, an on-air photo error in a Sean Combs report, and a China-trip visa failure that left him anchoring from Taiwan.
The result adds pressure on CBS News leadership under Bari Weiss, whose tenure has already drawn scrutiny as the network tries to revive a struggling flagship broadcast.