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Oprah Winfrey has gone from red to black.
The former talk show queen saw her OWN cable channel turn a profit in the second quarter — six months ahead of schedule, according to David Zaslav, CEO of Discovery Communications, the co-owner of Winfrey’s young enterprise.
OWN, which launched on Jan. 1, 2011, initially struggled to find an audience and switched CEOs several times until Winfrey herself took charge.
Lately, though, OWN has drawn big ratings thanks to two Tyler Perry-helmed shows — “The Haves and Have Nots” and “Love Thy Neighbor” — and Oprah’s big interviews, including Lance Armstrong’s doping admission.
The network’s target audience, women ages 25 to 54, has increased, pushing total viewership of the network up by 39 percent during the period, the company said.
The shift to profitability was accomplished with additional upfront spending by advertisers and commitments from distribution companies that carry the channel, Zazlav said yesterday during a call with analysts to discuss second- quarter results.
Discovery said OWN is cash-flow positive and will begin paying back Discovery for its investment.
The channel signed around 30 new advertisers in the “upfront” market and collects about 20 cents per subscriber a month, much more than rivals, Discovery said. Zazlav had previously said he expected OWN to turn profitable by Dec. 31.
Discovery, whose other networks include Discovery Channel and Animal Planet, said revenue jumped 30 percent in the latest quarter, but profit fell short of Wall Street’s expectations.
The company also cut its full-year forecast for profit and revenue, blaming currency fluctuations and costs tied to its $1.7 billion purchase of Scandinavian media company SBS.
Excluding certain items, per-share earnings of 83 cents missed analysts’ estimate of 91 cents.
Shares fell 4 percent to close at $81.00.