Oprah Winfrey’s potential as a “starmaker” and industry maven could take a hit when she bows out of hosting her hugely popular talk show.
One word from Winfrey, TV’s biggest daytime star, can make a career or turn a book, movie or even clothing into an immediate best seller.
But that will change once she moves to her cable network, OWN, in 2011, experts say.
“Her influence may be reduced but it certainly won’t be eliminated,” said John Rash, director of media analysis with Campbell Mithun. “The bigger challenge may be for more obscure book authors who’ll miss the unprecedented platform of being a part of Oprah’s Book Club.
“Her audience will be diminished — and her onetime impact will be diminished. But there’s nothing keeping her from sitting on the other side of the couch and being a guest to push a particular project.”
Her situation will be like Howard Stern, who moved from terrestrial radio to satellite, losing a chunk of his audience and command of headlines. At OWN, she’ll have a fraction of the 7 million viewers she now commands daily, marking a shift in the power she now has over the media and merchandise marketplace.
“Her platform won’t be as big. She’s still going to have tremendous influence — she always has her hand in something — but she won’t have the same impact she once had,” said industry analyst Marc Berman of Mediaweek.