O don’t know cable.
Talk-show queen Oprah Winfrey is losing money, viewers, executives — and even her best friend, Gayle King, who bolted this week — in her battle to make OWN Network a relevant programming destination.
Winfrey intended to “enlighten” and “inspire” her loyal fan base when transitioning from network TV to cable, but all she’s done is alienate herself, posing as a philosopher rather than a journalist.
An initial buzz followed the New Year’s Day launch, resulting in 153,000 viewers in January, according to Nielsen. Ratings have only exceeded that number once and fell to 121,000 in October. Even if you allow Winfrey to take a mulligan for the first five months, when she was pre-occupied with closing out her glorious 25-year run on ABC, there’s little she’s accomplished since pushing ex-OWN CEO Christina Norman out the door.
“[Winfrey’s] the biggest name out there, so naturally she anticipated her immense fan base would follow her,” said editor of TV Media Insights Marc Berman, who spent the previous 12 years at MediaWeek. “But that hasn’t been the case. Expectations were through the roof, but ratings aren’t close to meeting them.”
Discovery CEO David Zaslav hasn’t been shy about infusing money into the joint venture, after ponying up an initial $189 million. In only 10 months, an additional $62 million has been pumped in, including a recent $12 million devoted strictly to advertising.
Problem is, if you disagree with Winfrey, you’ll be sent packing. Just ask Peter Liguori, who butted heads with Winfrey and was nudged toward the exit door, much like Norman. The only difference is, Liguori announced he would leave his post as Discovery’s COO at year’s end rather than stick around.
Liguori was originally hired as Discovery’s No. 2 executive under Zaslav two years ago and was charged with overseeing the launch of co-ventures OWN and The Hub.
“They need to bring in some veteran creative minds,” said Berman. “You already have Oprah on her show, as a guest on another and then in the commercials, too? It’s overkill.”
OWN brass are confused about why skeptics continually harp on the transactions.
“Every startup needs capital. There’s nothing going on here out of the ordinary,” explained Erik Logan, co-president of OWN. “We are building for the long term.”
But who from Winfrey’s entourage will be around to see it?
King’s surprise decision to head over to CBS and co-anchor “The Early Show,” a program already suffering in the ratings department as well as from an identity crisis, has insiders baffled and wondering who’s next.
“I have the utmost respect for [Winfrey] and truly believe there’s a great, positive message in her programming,” said Berman. “But it isn’t looking good for [OWN] at all right now.”