Winfrey, for so long revered at as a saint, reigned over all media and received very little criticism for anything said and done. But lately, her choices are gaining scepticism and audiences are tuning out, reports the New York Times.
According to Nielson Media Research, it’s the third straight year of the average audience decline for the Oprah Winfrey Show. This year alone, the show has gone down seven per cent in average viewers.
Also, Winfrey’s reality show Oprah’s Big Give debuted this winter with a huge audience and beat every program on television except for American Idol, but has too experienced the loss of almost a third of its audience.
Even Winfrey’s readership has been bruised. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, the circulation of O, The Oprah Magazine, has taken a loss of 10 per cent in the last three years.
While she’s still suggesting books from her book club, even her picks are gaining criticism. It seems Winfrey is gravitating towards books of the new-age spiritualism variety and long-time fans are starting to raise their brows.
But what really has her teetering at the top of her empire may be her endorsement of Senator Barack Obama – perhaps causing a divide in her audience; considering that some of her television audience are middle-aged white women whom support Senator Hillary Clinton. Angry criticism and political disputes are becoming common message threads on the message board from her site, Oprah.com.
Despite the declining fan base, Winfrey still plans on embarking on her big project: starting up OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network. OWN will feature programming that will reflect Winfrey’s vision of what she considers empowering programming – but will not include The Oprah Winfrey Show because of its previous contracts with other stations.
Robert Madden, a senior executive vice president at CBS Television Distribution, is still optimistic when it comes to television viewers. Madden oversees the syndication of The Oprah Winfrey Show and isn’t worried about the decline. Some suggest that her show’s decline is merely the result of a general drop in overall television audience.
Like her ratings, Winfrey is starting to fall – but she’s still clutching onto that crown she wears, as the queen of the media.
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