Even Oprah Winfrey admits to confidence issues where OWN is concerned. The talk show host says she has had recent doubts about decisions she made for her OWN network. Programming choices were her biggest fear.
According to a report from MSNBC, Winfrey spent time "fretting about her programming choices" just prior to the OWN launch on January 1st.
“Just a few weeks ago, I started thinking maybe I’m wrong. Maybe people really do want to watch housewives bicker,” Winfrey said. “I could absolutely be wrong about what I think people want to watch, and this could be the biggest lesson ever for me.”
Does Oprah Winfrey have anything to worry about with regard to OWN? According to early ratings, she might. OWN replaced Discovery Health, and as of February 1, "OWN averaged 358,000 prime-time viewers in the target demographic of women 25 to 54, which was up 33 percent from last yearÂ’s numbers for Discovery Health." While those numbers certainly aren't horrible, they aren't really Oprah-worthy.
The week of January 31-February 6 saw OWN's numbers slip even further, however. The network pulled in a mere 54,000 viewers, as compared to Lifetime's 394,00 Hallmark's 182,000 and Oxygen's 133,000 viewers. Now these numbers aren't good.
Oprah Winfrey is doing her best to maintain a positive attitude, as is her style. Still it shakes her confidence.
“The number of people who found us surpassed my expectations and it proved that people were tired of the snark and the back-biting and wanted something different,” Winfrey said.
It is quite likely that OWN, like most anything Oprah touches, will succeed. In fact, it will probably flourish. As the TV mogul knows, good things take time, and she has undoubtedly honed a good thing here. Oh wait, that's Martha Stewart who has a "good thing"--not Oprah Winfrey!
It's a bit refreshing to hear that someone with the wealth and power of Oprah Winfrey admits to having confidence issues. It shows a human side to her to belies the superhuman air she usually portrays.
Do you watch the OWN network?
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Comments: 3
I don't really know what they show on OWN except Oprah behind the scenes, but eventually they'll have to go to stupid reality shows. Most networks on cable have shifted their programming to stupid reality shows, including Discovery, TLC, History, and Bravo.