Lester Holt Leaving ‘NBC Nightly News’ after a Decade, a Day after Joy Reid Was Axed by the Network

NBC’s Lester Holt is leaving Nightly News, the network’s flagship program he hosted for nearly ten years. Holt, 65, told staff in a memo on Monday that he is stepping down, a decade after taking over as the full-time anchor following Brian Williams’ departure.

According to NBC News’ Executive Vice President of Programming, Janelle Rodriguez, the seasoned broadcaster will now continue his role solely on “Dateline.” NBC, whose subsidiary MSNBC recently canceled Joy Reid’s show The ReidOut, hasn’t yet named a successor. “[Holt] will continue at the helm of Nightly until early summer,” Rodriguez said, revealing how the anchor will devote “his energy to the rapidly-expanding powerhouse that is Dateline.”

Abrupt End

Holt, who previously anchored the weekend edition of the show, took over as the weekday host of Nightly News in June 2015 after a controversy over Iraq War reporting derailed Brian Williams’ career.

In a letter to Nightly News and Dateline staff on Monday morning, Holt described his time on the show as an “amazing ride.”

Since September 2011, he was the lead anchor of Dateline, but he did not address the program’s declining year-over-year ratings in his message.

Instead, he expressed enthusiasm about “continuing as anchor of “Dateline NBC” for the first time ‘in a full time capacity.”

“I will be expanding my footprint on the broadcast and crafting ‘Dateline ‘hours on subjects I care deeply about,” the anchor added, in a memo since re-shared by the company.

“I am thrilled to be able to work more closely with my enormously talented friends at Dateline as the broadcast continues to grow and attract new viewers.”

Dateline is currently NBC’s 14th most-watched program, attracting over 2.3 million viewers. However, like many traditional media broadcasts, its audience has declined significantly compared to previous years.

Just two years ago, the magazine-style show—often likened to CBS’s 60 Minutes or PBS NewsHour—averaged more than 4 million viewers.

Meanwhile, NBC Nightly News, which trails ABC World News Tonight in the evening news rankings, is drawing an average of 6.742 million total viewers—down one percent from the same period last year.

Changing Times

The figure comes after some recent improvements, as the long-running broadcast suffered steep declines over the summer, with double-digit dips in both total audience and the coveted 25-to-54-year-old demographic.

In July, the show was down 17 percent in overall viewership compared to the previous quarter and saw a 27 percent decline in the demographic most valued by advertisers. However, it has since stabilized.

That said, altering a show’s format has already led to a ratings dip for competitor CBS—and for many longtime viewers, Holt remains a familiar and trusted presence.

Asked about Nightly News’ future during an interview with Esquire in late 2023, the anchor said: “Yes, audiences are migrating. [But] how people consume us, that’s going to continue to change.

“I have no idea how in seventy-five years,” he added, after earning recognition stints on Today and MSNBC before that.

“But Nightly News will exist.”

Meanwhile, Senior National Correspondent Tom Llamas remains a solid contender, with longstanding speculation suggesting he could be Holt’s eventual replacement.