Norah O'Donnell's Future At CBS Is Finally Clear
Is she keeping her anchor seat? On April 8, CBS revealed whether or not "Evening News" anchor Norah O'Donnell's contract with the network was renewed.
The evening news broadcast's future has been under speculation for months. Last year, sources learned that new CBS co-president Neeraj Khemlani was seeking out talent at other networks through agents and representatives, per Variety. During that time, rumors began swirling that Brian Williams, who previously anchored for "NBC Nightly News" and MSNBC, would take O'Donnell's place — though Williams declined the network twice, per CNN. Rumors of O'Donnell's ouster only intensified as reports began surfacing that she was "toxic" on-set.
Rumors continued as CBS executives then announced the network's rebranding. Within the rebrand, O'Donnell launched a new streaming show titled "Person to Person," for which she serves as host. With all this change — and speculation — many wondered if this meant O'Donnell would be stepping away from the anchor desk. But now, O'Donnell's future with CBS has finally been determined.
Norah O'Donnell will stay with CBS until at least 2024
Despite growing speculation, Norah O'Donnell will remain behind the anchor desk at "CBS Evening News." On April 8, insiders revealed O'Donnell's renewal means she'll keep her anchor seat past the 2024 election, per Variety.
"After plenty of rumors to the contrary, Norah O'Donnell is staying home, and set up to finally become the Peter Jennings of CBS — the star that the news division is built around, which in 2022 means some streaming stuff too," CNN's Brian Stelter said, via The Wrap. Compared to its competitors, "CBS Evening New," lags in viewership. When it first aired, O'Donnell only scored 1.221 million viewers ages 24-54, a key demographic for the program. Since then, the show has seen relative growth. The beginning of 2022 brought an average of 5.42 million viewers. But, as CBS continues to rebrand, fans of the evening broadcast will see that come to fruition as well — just not in the form of a new anchor. Instead, "CBS Evening News" will now be streaming on the CBS streaming platforms. Following the 6:30 p.m. nightly premiere, the show will be available to stream by 10 p.m.
Since the announcement, O'Donnell has not made a comment. But, back in January, Neeraj Khemlani, a CBS executive, said that with O'Donnell it is not worth discussing the contracts because O'Donnell has incredible leadership and is moving the entire news division forward. Now with O'Donnell's renewal, there's time to see if that will ring true.