Katie Couric and CBS lost 23 percent of its first-day audience, but still were able to attract 7 percent of U.S. households to finish in first for one more day. ABC finished in 2nd with 5.3 percent and NBC close behind with 4.9 percent. The first night took in 9.1 percent share.
Shari Anne Brill, director of programming at advertising buyer Carat USA said, "The ratings will eventually even out but Katie's arrival is a real game-changer, it looks like it will be a much tighter race between the three networks."
This is way premature to start saying that this will result in a lot tighter race with the big three networks. While CBS was able to get news of great interest to coincide with Couric's debut, it will be a lot harder to depend upon that in the near future to drive viewers once the novelty dies down.
The other side of it is that CBS (CBS) was doing pretty well without Couric for a month before her debut on the evening news. They were averaging 7.02 million viewers a night in comparison to NBC's 7.8 million and ABC's 7.6 million during that time. ( (AP files)
With a potential $15 million a year on the line for CBS, anything short of a long term 1st place finish by Couric would be a disaster for them.
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