NBC’s Tom Llamas will succeed Lester Holt as the host of NBC Nightly News, the network announced on Wednesday.
Llamas, 45, will assume the anchor chair and managing editor post once Holt exits this summer. But he will continue hosting his NBC News Now streaming show Top Story–a sign of the network’s belt-tightening.
His new role was announced more than a week after Holt announced he was retiring. NBC News did not explain the delay.
“Tom has the winning combination of journalistic excellence, passionate storytelling and unyielding integrity—all characteristics that have long been trademarks of NBC Nightly News‚” said Janelle Rodriguez, NBC News’ executive vice president of programming.
The announcement comes after Holt, 65, said last week he would leave Nightly News to take a reduced role anchoring only Dateline. He will become the third longest-tenured Nightly News sole anchor after Tom Brokaw’s 21 years and Brian Williams' 10 years and two months.
Llamas will be tasked with trying to boost the show at a time of slipping audiences and mounting financial pressures. While Nightly News hit a six-month high in the advertiser-coveted 25-54 age demographic last month, it remains solidly in second place behind ABC’s World News Tonight.
When ABC’s David Muir beat NBC in the nightly news ratings for the first time in 18 years in 2016, NBC could still command nearly 10 million viewers a night. Last month, it averaged 6.7 million viewers a night—millions behind Muir’s roughly 8.3 million viewers.
NBC News has also faced multiple rounds of layoffs in the last two years as the industry confronts widespread headwinds, laying off a double digit number in 2024 and another 40 people in January.
Llamas had been poached from ABC to to NBC News in 2021 and it was widely assumed he would succeed the veteran anchor whenever Holt announced his departure.
“Anchoring NBC Nightly News is a profound honor and one that carries tremendous responsibility. I look forward to working with the world class journalists at Nightly News and Top Story to bring viewers the most important stories every night,” Llamas said.
He also praised Holt’s tenure: “Lester Holt is a great man and one of the most trusted broadcasters of our time. Just like Lester, I promise to be devoted to our viewers and dedicated to the truth.”
Llamas' new role will mean he will now face off against his former colleague Muir for viewers. Llamas was formerly the weekend and fill-in anchor of World News Tonight, though he was never tapped for its main program.
