Bad 'News' for Katie Couric, Brian Williams

[Brian Damage]

Katie Couric has a new executive producer and a newly refined evening newscast, but the show is still struggling to gain a toehold with viewers.

Indeed, CBS' "Evening News With Katie Couric" last week drew the smallest audience since September 1987, according to Nielsen Media Research.

CBS wasn't alone in reaching a new low: NBC's "Nightly News With Brian Williams" also hit a 20-year-low with its target audience of 25- to 54-year-old viewers. And ABC's "World News With Charles Gibson" hit its second-lowest number with the 25-54 crowd since 1987.

In total viewers, "World News" recorded its ninth week out of the last 13 as the most-watched broadcast evening newscast.

"Yes, Katie is going down," says analyst Andrew Tyndall, publisher of the Tyndall Report. "But my reading is the other way; Williams is in deeper trouble than Couric."

Tyndall says ABC's Gibson going against the trend of newscasts losing ground while Williams, with the once dominant newscast, and Couric slide.

For the week, "World News" averaged 8.1 million viewers, and was No. 1 with the news audience of viewers between the ages of 25 and 54.

NBC's "Nightly News" averaged 7.49 million viewers, and No. 2 with the 25-54s. And CBS' "Evening News" averaged 6.05 million viewers.

The latest ratings news comes after Couric and Williams made changes on their respective newscasts.

CBS recently named industry veteran Rick Kaplan as executive producer of the "Evening News," and he's since made changes to the broadcast.

NBC also recently named Alexandra Wallace executive producer of "Nightly News."

"Charlie is the story," Tyndall says. "Either his improvement is killing those other two, or he's able to defy gravity."

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