Why is this so "unreal"? It's summer.
And still roughly 50-60% higher than the highest programmed hour on Fox News (8PM Bill-O), although if you add in both airings of Bill-O, he comes within a couple hundred thousand viewers of Katie. Yet folks squeal and belch and bloviate how wonderful cable news is doing.
Of course, it's all kinda silly since we all know the evening news has been in steady viewership decline for about 25 years now. Plus, the anchor has been on vacation and pre-season national/regional football telecasts often preempted the scheduled news. For example, KOVR in Sacramento aired the CBS Evening News at 330PM last Friday. It wasn't even carried on many other west coast stations.
Network news is in decline. Prime Time viewership is in decline. Daytime soaps are in decline. Morning news/entertainment is in decline. The pie used to have only 3-5 pieces. Then for a couple decades, there were 25-45 slices. Now there are 200-250 slices out there, plus a few more pies that didnt really exist 20 years ago (internets, VOD, smartphones). Of course ratings will sink.