Lester Holt’s ABC rival David Muir posts tribute to him as he steps down from top slot

Lester Holt’s ratings rival David Muir has paid tribute to the outgoing NBC Nightly News anchor in a glowing tribute post. 

The host of ABC World News Tonight penned the homage Monday, mere hours after Holt revealed he was leaving NBC Nightly News after a decade at the desk.

Muir offered his respects, sharing a short message and a pair of photos of him and Holt together.

‘Lester is a true gentleman,’ the 51-year-old who succeeded Diane Sawyer in 2014 caption the post – before continuing to talk up his old opponent.

The message – where Muir remembered his and Holt’s ‘chats’ through the years’ and their odds run-ins on flights – came at a time where Muir stands the most to gain from the rapidly changing evening news field, industry insiders told DailyMail.com.

CBS’s Norah O’Donnell stepped down toward the start of the year to make way for a so-far flailing experimental format – leaving behind his and Holt’s familiar faces. 

But now that Holt is gone, Muir remains the only big name anchor hosting a glossy, big budget nightly news show on network TV.

Insiders say that NBC News viewers may flee the network once Holt goes later this summer, with correspondents Tom Llamas and Hallie Jackson said to be battling to replace him. 

Muir’s show – once manned by the likes of Peter Jennings – was already firmly in first-place, beating out runner-up Holt’s broadcast by nearly 2million viewers some nights.

O’Donnell’s departure from CBS News has seen ratings there slump by a quarter, with Holt’s imminent exit from Nightly News potentially set to have a similar effect. 

‘The research shows that both David and Lester are both well-liked,’ a senior executive with years of experience told DailyMail.com Tuesday.

‘But with CBS Evening News in upheaval, without a real star, and uncertainty at Nightly News as to who is going to replace Lester, viewers are definitely going to sample World News Tonight more.

‘People want a steady ship during uncertain times,’ they went on, as networks like CBS, MSNBC, and CNN all continue to implement change to raise waning ratings.

‘The gap could continue to grow.’    

If NBC revamps Nightly News on the cheap, insiders believe the gloss and resources of World News Tonight may prove even more appealing to viewers. 

In contrast, CBS News – recently routed by a round of layoffs – has scaled back and altered their broadcasts, part of revamp from exec Wendy McMahon.

NBC News now seems poised to follow suit, as a separate source told DailyMail.com there’s a battle brewing behind the scenes as to who will be Holt’s successor.  

ABC, meanwhile continues to invest in its old-style, well-staffed broadcast, and ratings have shown it so far paying off. 

CBS vet O’Donnell – who stepped in to replace a series of rotating hosts in 2019 – anchored her final episode of Evening News late last month, leaving behind John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois for a new version of the program masterminded by 60 Minutes boss Bill Owens.

Attempting to mimic the success of the less headline driven show, it took on a more style magazine format with longer-form, often ‘featurey’ segments.

Since its implementation a mere month ago, the new format is already failing, subjecting Evening News to a pronounced 24 percent drop in the hallowed 25-54 demographic when compared to this time last year.

In contrast, World News Tonight – which, much like Nightly News under Hold, harked back to the old days of broadcasting led by names like Rather and Brokaw – saw an 8 percent annual gain in the same important sample-set.

Holt‘s Nightly News, moreover, experienced an 8 percent gain in that demo, after regaining viewership ground last year overall to secure roughly the same numbers they did the year before.

That left Evening News, for the week of February 10, the sole broadcast to experience week-to-week declines, which were even drastic when looked at year-to-year.

‘I would say it’s a five-alarm fire,’ a veteran television news exec told Status on Friday about CBS’s ratings week. 

‘It’s mind boggling,’ a veteran producer who spent a decade at the network further added of the strategy. ‘They took the “news” out of the “Evening News!” It’s not surprising the audience is leaving in droves.’

‘It’s almost impossible to build it once you’ve lost it,’ the exec added. ‘So to have a drop off like that suggest that this asset… is circling the drain.’

‘Why did McMahon and Owens decide to try to reinvent the “Evening News” in this challenging moment?’ the industry insider went on to ask. ‘Any excuse you give the audience to change their habit is a massive risk.’

Losses of fixtures like O’Donnell, and Chuck Todd and Hoda Kotb over at NBCU, add to that risk – as a former senior staffer familiar with the situation at NBC News told DailyMail.com Monday that Llamas and Jackson are both looking to replace Holt.

However, ‘[brass] doesn’t have faith in [either] replacing Holt,’ they said, citing a lack of star-power. ‘It won’t work.’

‘Long-timers in the newsroom think neither and have the name recognition for the job,’ they went on. ‘There’s already real anxiety in the newsroom after the loss of both Hoda, and now Lester.’

Another insider, however, disputed the idea of infighting over the sought-after position at the flagship network.

‘It’s laughable that anyone would be “duking it out” for a position no one knew was open until this morning,’ the network source told DailyMail.com Monday. 

‘Everyone is focused on celebrating Lester, and any rumors of infighting are just that – rumors.

‘This is complete BS – they are both very talented and highly regarded.’ 

Meanwhile, SpinCo – a newly created spinoff of some of NBCU and Comcast’s channels – is discussing how to properly separate MSNBC and CNBC from NBC News. 

MSNBC, CNBC, and networks like USA, CNBC, MSNBC, Oxygen, E!, SYFY and the Golf Channel will go the new company, while Comcast will retain NBCUniversal assets like NBC and NBC News.