Brian Williams Anchors the number 1 newscast and yet only a quarter of the people asked could recognize him.

In 1985, Dan Rather anchored the number 1 newscast and almost half the people asked could recognize who he was.

The Pew Research Center says that the lower public awareness of news anchors reflects a large decline in the audience for nightly network news since the 1980s.

For example, in November 1985 an average of 48 million Americans watched one of the network newscasts each evening. By 2013, that number had fallen to 24.5 million, according to Nielsen Media Research. 

What has to be more scary for the networks is while recognition of Williams compared with Rather is lower across all demographic groups, the gap between young and old is now wider today than in 1985. In the August survey, just 15% of those under 30 identified Williams, compared with about three-in-ten in older age groups. In 1985, 41% of young people identified Rather; about half of older people recognized the CBS anchor.

Just 15% of people under the age of 30 know who BriWi is.

That alone should scare the hell news divisions.