Matt Gutman filled in for Tony Dokoupil on CBS Evening News while Dokoupil was out on a two-week vacation. In Gutman’s first week in the chair in July, the broadcast averaged 4.1 million viewers, the program’s best week in 17 weeks.
That total put CBS Evening News above 4 million viewers for the first time since the week of March 30, when Dokoupil averaged 4.2 million viewers. Dokoupil has anchored the program since January, and the July result gave CBS a stronger stretch than the recent weeks that preceded the handoff.
Tony Dokoupil and July ratings
For viewers, the main change was the face behind the desk. Gutman’s run did not just hold the audience steady; it pushed the broadcast back above the 4 million mark after a long stretch below it. The number matters because the week of March 30 had been the last time the show reached that level, and Gutman surpassed it while filling in.
Substitute anchors typically perform worse than the regular anchor, yet Gutman drew the show’s best ratings in 17 weeks. That comparison makes the July result stand out against the usual pattern of temporary replacements underperforming the main host.
Matt Gutman and David Muir
The ratings discussion also sat alongside a broader stretch of change around CBS News. The source ties the audience gain to recent scrutiny at CBS News under Bari Weiss and to internal shakeups including a Black Thursday purge at 60 Minutes. David Muir was also on vacation last week, a detail that placed more attention on summer substitutions across the evening newscasts.
A separate CBS issue has followed Dokoupil into this period. In June, he told The, “It was a mistake,” and “Someone should’ve got a visa,” after CBS News failed to secure Donald Trump a visa for coverage of his May trip to China, forcing him to anchor from Taiwan instead of Beijing.
CBS News after the fill-in
Gutman’s result gives CBS a clear ratings data point to weigh when Dokoupil returns from vacation. The program’s audience rose during the substitute run, but the source does not say whether CBS News plans any change to the anchor lineup after Dokoupil comes back.
