NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Nearly 13.6 million people tuned into watch Katie Couric in her debut as the host of CBS's nightly news telecast on Tuesday, the network said Wednesday.

By way of comparison, CBS had just 7.4 million viewers tune in for its nightly news telecast a year ago.

Katie was a big hit on Tuesday. Nearly 13.6 milliion people watched Couric's first appearance as the anchor of CBS's evening news telecast.

Citing data from Nielsen Media Research, CBS (Charts) also said that ratings for Couric's first show easily beat the nightly news telecasts from rival NBC, which pulled in 7.8 million viewers, and ABC, which had 7.6 million viewers.

CBS said that Tuesday's evening news show was the most watched on the network since February. 16, 1998. That telecast took place while CBS was covering the Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, Japan.

Couric signed a multiyear deal with CBS in April to become the first woman solo news anchor. She previously had been the co-host of NBC's extremely successful "Today" show and was with that program for 15 years.

While Couric obviously got off to a good start, a CBS executive was quick to caution that the network did not expect ratings to stay this strong.

"It's gratifying that so many viewers tuned in to see what the CBS Evening News With Katie Couric is all about," said Sean McManus, the president of CBS News and Sports, in a statement. "While this initial rating is terrific, we hope for a slow but steady build once the numbers settle into a more realistic pattern. Our mission remains focused on the quality of the broadcast."

Ratings for CBS's nightly news telecast still trail those of General Electric (Charts)-owned NBC and Walt Disney (Charts)-owned ABC this season. But the hope is that CBS will be able to bridge the gap under Couric.

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