'Oprah' Makes Modest Cable Debut

Winfrey

As expected, OWN, the new Oprah Winfrey cable network, launched with modest ratings over the weekend.  

Preliminary Nielsen numbers show that during prime time of its first day of operation -- Saturday, Jan. 1 -- the network pulled in 1 million viewers on average between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. By way of comparison, some 20 cable networks get an average of 1 million or more viewers during prime time.

But in some of its key targeted viewer demographics -- older women -- the network did fairly well, earning a 0.93 rating among women 25-54 during prime time, placing it fourth among all cable networks. During just the 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. time period, it was only behind ESPN and USA Network.

Its best-rated program on that first day was a clip show from Oprah Winfrey's syndicated program this past season. Called "Season 25: Oprah Behind the Scenes," episode 102, the show pulled in 1.2 million viewers and a 1.1 rating among women 25-54.

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The next day -- Sunday, January 2 -- OWN pulled in an average of 822,000 viewers and a 0.64 rating among women 25-54. The network said this put OWN into 14th place overall in prime time. On that day, "Ask Oprah's All Stars" earned a 0.79 rating among women 25-54, from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. and 970,000 viewers overall. The older women ratings placed it 9th among all cable shows.

OWN early ratings should be looked at with a few considerations -- primarily, it is in only some 67% of all U.S. TV homes so far, much less than many other mature and established cable networks.

Cable network OWN is a joint venture of Discovery Communications and Winfrey's company, Harpo Studios. Its previous incarnation was as the Discovery Health network.

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