January 21/13 9:26 am - Oprah Winfrey Network Gets Big Boost from Armstrong Interview

Posted by Editoress on 01/21/13
 

The Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) received a significant ratings boost from its two-part interview with Lance Armstrong last week.  OWN, which is financed by Discovery (ironically, a former Armstrong team title sponsor) has not had the viewership hoped for since it launched just over two years ago, however, the Armstrong interviews gave it a needed boost according to analysts.

The first night received 3.2 million viewers in the U.S., while the live streaming online version had 600,000 connections from 190 countries, as well as dominating social media sites (during the first night, Armstrong-related topics were the top-four trending topics on Twitter).  An additional 1.1 million tuned in for a rebroadcast immediately afterwards.  The interviews were also simulcast to over 100 countries in Europe, Asia and Latin America.  Other international markets rebroadcast it over the weekend.  Numbers for the second part of the interview have not been released yet.

In Canada, the network reached a peak viewership of 838,000 during the first night, with an average of 715,000 total viewers, according to rating agency BBM Canada.  It made the first part the highest rated show across all Canadian English-language cable networks in the 25-54 age group.

Industry publication Ad Age reported that OWN was receiving $100,000 for a two ad buy, approximately 40%-50% more than average other major events on the network.