D.C. move gives ‘CBS Evening News’ highest ratings since O’Donnell’s July debut

Norah O’Donnell’s move to Washington, D.C. brought the highest viewership for the “CBS Evening News” since she took over July 15, 2019.

• According to initial ratings data from Nielsen, the Monday, Dec. 2 broadcast drew 6.8 million viewers.
• The newscast also got 14 million in the adults 25-54 demo.
• Put another way, the numbers were 25% higher than the average viewership of 5.4 million viewers O’Donnell had been registering since July.
• CBS promoted the D.C. debut during its popular “60 Minutes” broadcast Sunday.
• NBC and ABC also saw ratings upticks as a winter storm descended on the northeast.

“Evening” has been in a ratings slide since O’Donnell took over from Jeff Glor in a talent shuffle that affected “CBS This Morning” as well.

• At one point, ratings were down 20 to 29% in the demo over the same time period the previous year with Glor at the anchor desk.
• Glor, meanwhile, was only seeing declines in the single digits — which isn’t uncommon in today’s shifting media landscape.
• CBS execs are said to content to allow O’Donnell time to build viewership.

In the key November ratings period that just ended, “CBS Evening News” had an average of 5.78 million viewers.

• “ABC World News Tonight” lead the pack with 8.95 million and “NBC Nightly News” was second with 8.16 million.
• During sweeps, only ABC grew its audience — by 3% — over the previous year.
• “Nightly” was down 4% and “Evening” was down 8%.
• It’s worth noting that all three networks goosed their numbers this November by re-airing their respective newscasts in the early morning hours, which count toward viewership tallies.