• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, Yesterday

Amazon and Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Entertainment have signed a multiyear deal that will provide Wondery with exclusive distribution and advertising rights to "The Oprah Podcast" on audio and video. 

The series will expand to two new episodes per week, starting this summer. Also included in the deal are rights to "The Oprah Winfrey Show" library, Oprah’s Book Club and Oprah’s Favorite Things.

Wondery will distribute "The Oprah Podcast" across Amazon services, including Prime Video, Amazon Music, Fire TV Channels, and Audible in July. The podcast will also continue to be available on YouTube.

"The Oprah Podcast" features Winfrey in conversations with  newsmakers, authors, and cultural changemakers, often in front of live audiences. 

“Oprah Winfrey has built one of the most iconic, timeless brands in the world, spanning television, publishing, and beyond,” says Steve Boom, vice president of Audio, Twitch, and Games, Amazon. “Through this collaboration with Harpo Entertainment, we are bringing her voice to more people and expanding how her audiences engage with Oprah in ways only Amazon can deliver.”

As for Winfrey, she says, “Hosting this podcast allows me to continue the work I feel called to do – opening the door for conversations that matter -- the kind of conversations that remind us we’re not alone, and invite us to see ourselves and one another more clearly.”

Winfrey talks to people on topics like tech addiction, divorce after a long marriage, estranged families, coping with caregiving and grief, financial health, how to build community, and our unbreakable bond with dogs. 

Noteworthy guests include ballerina Misty Copeland, actors Hugh Jackman, Kate Hudson and Jeremy Allen White, tennis legend, Serena Williams and cookbook author Ina Garten.