Tyler Perry Studios Grand Opening Gala

From “Poor as Hell” to Billionaire: How Tyler Perry Changed Show Business Forever

Apple aficionados have learned to wait for the end of its product announcements for the most tantalizing news: the &#8220;one more thing&#8221; that Steve Jobs would toss off, almost as an afterthought, and send the audience into a frenzy.



This time, the finale of Apple&#8217;s long-anticipated announcement launching its Apple TV+ video subscription service Monday in Cupertino — the signature moment that brought some in the audience to their feet — took human form. Oprah Winfrey strode on stage wearing Apple-white and, as the applause died down, responded with a comically understated, &#8220;Hi.&#8221;



Winfrey talked publicly for the first time about her multi-year deal with Apple — a partnership CEO Tim Cook has referenced frequently, if vaguely, on earnings calls with the Wall Street analysts. 



The talk show host turned media executive said she&#8217;s working on a documentary dealing with the sexual harassment and assault in the workplace, currently titled&nbsp;Toxic Labor,&nbsp;and an untitled multi-part series exploring mental health issues.



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&#8220;The Apple platform has allowed me to do what I do in a whole new way — connecting people and taking it to a whole new level, because they have a billion pockets y&#8217;all,&#8221; Winfrey said, a reference to the 1.4 billion Apple devices in use around the world that some analysts believe give its streaming service a competitive edge over established rivals, such as Netflix.



Winfrey was the headliner at an event packed with Hollywood celebrities. Director Steven Spielberg took the stage for his inaugural appearance at an Apple event to talk about his revival of the anthology series&nbsp;Amazing Stories.&nbsp;



Actors Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston touted their new project,&nbsp;The Morning Show,&nbsp;which explores the power and gender dynamics of morning news shows — an opportunity so appealing, the&nbsp;Friends&nbsp;star said it brought her back to TV.



Director J.J. Abrams shared the stage with Grammy-nominated artist Sara Bareilles to tout their collaboration on&nbsp;Little Voice,&nbsp;a show about a young, flawed artist finding her voice. Kumail Nanjiani of the HBO series&nbsp;Silicon Valley&nbsp;will explore immigrant stories in the series&nbsp;Our Little America.&nbsp;Even&nbsp;Sesame Street&nbsp;staple Big Bird stepped into the spotlight to announce a children&#8217;s series called&nbsp;Helpsters.



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Apple spelled out its broad ambitions for the forthcoming streaming service, saying it had partnered with the most accomplished storytellers as it seeks to define Apple TV+ as a home for quality entertainment. The tech company did more showing than telling at the Steve Jobs Theater Monday — each celebrity presentation was notably devoid of trailers.



It&#8217;s possible that the marking impresarios at Apple are holding their promotional firepower until a date closer to the Apple TV+ launch. Today&#8217;s event serves as a placeholder, staking Apple&#8217;s claim on the TV landscape ahead of the Walt Disney Co.&#8217;s April 11 investor briefing to discuss details of the Disney+ streaming service, or the television industry&#8217;s Upfront presentations, showcasing the fall schedule.



The Apple TV+ service will launch sometime this fall — though pricing has not been announced. It will be available through an updated version of the Apple TV app that&#8217;s already on millions of iPhones, iPads and Apple TV streaming devices. A new version of the app, due out in May, will work like a cable-TV service, where users can choose which TV channels they want to pay for and watch, including HBO, Showtime and Starz.



On the same day as Apple&#8217;s big announcement for original programming,&nbsp;Bloomberg reported&nbsp;that Google has cancelled plans for big budget scripted shows on YouTube. Google&nbsp;denied claims&nbsp;from Bloomberg sources that said the tech giant stopped accepting pitches for original scripts, but confirmed plans to launch ad-supported programming alongside YouTube Premium, $11.99-per-month ad-free access to YouTube Music and original content.



-Dawn Chmielewski; Forbes Staff

Apple Holds Product Launch Event In Cupertino

Apple Brings Out Hollywood’s Heavyweights To Kick Off Its Apple TV+ Streaming Service

One of the biggest names in television came to South Africa for what she believes are the greatest challenges affecting girls and women.



Oprah Winfrey was the keynote speaker at Isithunzi Sabafazi which means the &#8216;Dignity of women&#8217;, in tribute of Nelson Mandela. He would have turned 100 years in 2018. 



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Produced and edited by Forbes Woman Africa Journalist, Karen Mwendera. Shot by Jolly Ndlovu.</li></ul>

oprah

WATCH | Oprah Winfrey Advocates for Women and Celebrates Nelson Mandela

Shonda Rhimes may have defined Thursday night television, but she&#8217;s now dictating the medium&#8217;s future. When the&nbsp;Grey&#8217;s Anatomy&nbsp;creator signed a nine figure, four-year deal with Netflix last year, she cemented her place&nbsp;at the forefront of entertainment&#8217;s digital future-and pioneered Netflix&#8217;s handsome producer paydays.
Rhimes, who created and executive produced ABC hits including&nbsp;Scandaland&nbsp;How To Get Away with Murder, is now developing eight shows for the streaming service through her production outfit ShondaLand.
&#8220;We are powerful women and when we say we have power, what we are really saying is that we deserve to have power. We deserve whatever good thing it is that we are getting,&#8221; said&nbsp;Rhimes at&nbsp;Elle&nbsp;magazine’s 25th annual Women in Hollywood celebration.
<blockquote>Demanding what you deserve can feel like a radical act.</blockquote>
Worth an estimated $135 million, Rhimes is the wealthiest female showrunner&#8211;the person who oversees writing and production of each TV episode-in&nbsp;Hollywood. She has said that her deal, which&nbsp;reportedly&nbsp;includes a base salary of $150 million with incentives that could bump it much higher, is bigger than the $300 million secured by Ryan Murphy.
Rhimes is just one of the world&#8217;s most powerful women in media and entertainment effecting change and impacting her industry with groundbreaking deals and inclusive storytelling. Take Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, who has&nbsp;helped pioneer&nbsp;Star Wars&#8216; most inclusive casting yet.&nbsp;Under Kennedy&#8217;s stewardship, Kelly Marie Tran became the first woman of color to have a lead role in the multi-billion dollar franchise, playing Rose Tico in 2017&#8217;s&nbsp;The Last Jedi.
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Across the lot, Dana Walden has seen her power grow in the studio landscape. Following Disney&#8217;s $71.3 billion acquisition of the majority of&nbsp;21st Century Fox, the former chair and CEO of Fox Television Group will also head up 20th Century Fox TV, ABC Studios, the Freeform network, ABC-owned TV stations, ABC Entertainment and several other divisions.
Walden believes more women need to be in decision-making roles at every level. &#8220;There must be women in the highest ranks of every organization, and meaningful female representation on every corporate board,&#8221; Walden&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinehoward/2017/11/01/15-most-powerful-women-in-entertainment-and-media-2017-effecting-change-tackling-sexual-harassment/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-ga-track="InternalLink:https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinehoward/2017/11/01/15-most-powerful-women-in-entertainment-and-media-2017-effecting-change-tackling-sexual-harassment/">told Forbes last year</a>.
<blockquote>Our recruiting and our training has to be oriented to ensure that we’re identifying and nurturing future generations of female leaders.</blockquote>
Entertainment&#8217;s most powerful&nbsp;span Hollywood, music and publishing. As each segment continues to deal with the fallout of the #MeToo movement, women have taken action. Anna Wintour, who continues to control&nbsp;Vogue,&nbsp;suspended photographers Bruce Weber and Mario Testino amid sexual misconduct charges and set a code of conduct for models and photographers.
Wintour teamed up with music power woman Beyoncé for the September issue of&nbsp;Vogue; she was given creative control over her cover photo and leveraged that power to hire the first African American photographer to shoot the cover in the magazine&#8217;s&nbsp; 126-year history. Another first for Beyoncé: In 2018, she became the first black woman to headline Coachella.
Here&#8217;s the full list of Media and Entertainment power women:
1. Oprah Winfrey, Media mogul
2. Shari Redstone, Vice Chair, CBS &amp; Viacom
3. Bonnie Hammer, Chair, NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment
4. Donna Langley,&nbsp; Chair, Universal Pictures
5. Anna Wintour, Artistic Director, Conde Nast
6. Beyoncé, Singer
7. Dana Walden, Chairman, Disney TV Studios and ABC Entertainment
8. Katharine Viner, Editor-in-Chief, Guardian
9. Taylor Swift, Singer
10. Zanny Minton Beddoes, Editor-in-Chief, The Economist
11. Kathleen Kennedy, President, Lucasfilm
12. Shonda Rhimes, Showrunner
13. Arianna Huffington, Founder &amp; CEO, Thrive Global
14. Serena Williams, Tennis player
15. Shobhana Bhartia, Chair, HT&nbsp;Media
16. Priyanka Chopra,&nbsp;Actress
&#8211;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/natalierobehmed/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-ga-track="contrib block byline">Natalie Robehmed</a><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/natalierobehmed/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-ga-track="contrib block byline">:</a>&nbsp;I&#8217;m an associate editor at Forbes covering media and entertainment, with a focus on the movie business. For the magazine, I&#8217;ve written cover stories on&nbsp;
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2018 Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival – Weekend 1 – Day 2

From Beyonce To Shonda Rhimes, The Most Powerful Women In Entertainment 2018

Lessons And Ideas By The 100 Greatest Living Business Minds

Oprah Keeping The Promise Made To Mandela

And so it came to pass recently that 62-year-old Folorunsho Alakija, the oil baroness from Nigeria, became known as the richest black woman in the world. Alakija, however, is profoundly uncomfortable with the ‘super-rich’ tag. She believes that she is far more than just her fabulous wealth.
Her minders who fondly refer to her as ‘Madame’, make it clear that an audience with her will be granted only if she is engaged in a comprehensive manner. Those seeking to label and box Alakija as just another rich woman in Africa are not going to be entertained.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-5876" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2013-Dec-Jan-018-023-LEAD-Alakija-002-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" />
But her prickly attitude notwithstanding, Alakija’s extensive oil fortune has seen her morph into an instant celebrity. So much so that she has upstaged the queen of black corporate accomplishment herself, Oprah Winfrey.
‘Richer than Oprah’ screams one of the headlines that accompanied the narrative about Alakija’s life and how she made her millions. According to FORBES, she is worth about $3.2 billion. Or $2.5 billion (Forbes Nov). Other estimates put her fortune at $3.3 billion, but in October, Ventures Africa Magazine suggested that figure could be as high as $7.3 billion. This makes Alakija – at the very least – $500 million richer than the Queen of Talk.
It also means that she is the fourth-richest black person on the planet, behind fellow Nigerians Mike Adenuga ($4.3 billion) and Aliko Dangote ($11.2 billion), and Ethiopian Mohammed Al Amoudi ($12.5 billion).
The oil baroness was born into a wealthy family, so her story is no rags-to-riches tale, but the reality of her climb to the top of the oil heap is still mind-blowing. Talk about being in the right place at the right time. “God was directing us into oil production. My entry into this business was God’s own way of leading me down a particular path that had its ups and downs,” she says matter-of-factly during an interview on the sidelines of the Brics Business Council meeting, recently held in Johannesburg, South Africa.
A self-proclaimed fashionista, Alakija cuts an elegant figure in her designer duds and eye-catching headdresses. Her trademark African-inspired couture ensures that she stands out in any gathering. Preparing for the FORBES WOMAN AFRICA photo shoot, the multibillionaire confers occasionally with Amanda, her unobtrusive aide, who is a constant at her side.
Flamboyant but diminutive, Alakija was born in 1951 to a wealthy family whose patriarch had eight wives and 52 children. While she is the offspring of a polygamous father, she is undoubtedly the only wife in her own marriage.
“I am the first lady of the Alakija family,” she says, firmly eschewing the idea that her husband, a lawyer by training, would be allowed to follow her father’s example.
Deeply religious, Alakija is very much a representation of many modern businesswomen with strong Christian roots. When I ask her to contextualize her faith, she says: “God directs us to be in business. There is no church without business. Business is the concern of the church.”
And while she has gone to great lengths to showcase her generous charity work through the Rose of Sharon Foundation, details of her oil business remain sketchy.
So How did Alakija acquire her petrodollars? That’s the proverbial million-dollar question – and it still needs to be answered properly. To quote football legend Maradona, did ‘the hand of God’ set her on the path of prosperity? Or is it the less lofty but infinitely more probable case of ‘God helps those who help themselves’?
On a recent trip to Abuja, the city of federal government in Nigeria, I posed the question to some of the business people, activists and journalists I int-eracted with. How does a former secretary and fashion designer get an oil prospecting license from one president, only to have it taken away by another? My desire for a plausible answer leads me back to where it all began, long before Alakija became the woman to push Oprah off her global perch.
Determined that their daughter would receive an international education, Alakija’s parents sent her to a private girls’ boarding school in Wales when she was seven years old. Although she returned home to attend high school, it was not long before she left again, to complete her secretarial studies in London.
Alakija was back in her homeland, working as a secretary for what was then the International Merchant Bank of Nigeria. When the institution became defunct, she crossed the ocean again, this time to study fashion. It was a move that would stand her in good stead.
A gusty entrepreneur, armed with a passion for fashion, Alakija launched her own line, Supreme Stitches. She says hard work and a keen business savvy ensured that she quickly made a name for herself in Nigeria, and in 1986, scooped up an award as the country’s top designer.
Casting around for a new challenge, Alakija decided to apply for an oil prospecting license. As a close associate of the president at the time, Ibrahim Babangida, her propinquity to authority gave her a foot in the door.
In 1993, she was eventually granted a 620,000 acre plot to explore. But there was a snag. Alakija had no idea how to drill for oil. In fact, she says, many believed that nothing would come from her block because it was so far out at sea. “It was 5,000 feet into the sea. We didn’t have the techno-logy. It was a big risk.”
Today Nigeria is Africa’s oil giant, but in 1993, prospecting was still an extremely dicey and expensive endeavor. But Alakija is not someone who gives up easily. With her firm belief in God and family, she stuck it out.
“We stayed the course. We made the right connections and partnered with great people, who put Nigeria’s interests first,” she explains.
In 1996, still green but eager to learn, Alakija hired oil conglomerate Texaco. Its brief was to assess the oil potential in her granted area. After four years of research, Texaco reported back: Alakija was sitting on an estimated one billion barrels of oil.
Her tenacity had paid off. Most of her wealth can be traced back to Famfa Oil, a company she founded after the Texaco assessment. The deposit, called OML 127, currently produces 200,000 barrels of oil every day.
With access to Nigeria’s liquid gold, Alakija’s journey to riches was set on course. She describes the oil find as a “true blessing”, but concedes that it also had its “ups and downs”. Wealth brings its own challenges, and Alakija’s case, these challenges came from serious political players who ruled Africa’s most populous nation.
In many ways it is unsurprising that her newfound status as a serious oil producer would draw the attention of the wealthy and powerful. While Alakija enjoyed excellent relations with Babangida and basked in his protection and indulgence, the opposite was true of his successor. During his presidency, Olusegun Obasanjo unconstitutionally acquired a 50% interest in Alakija’s block without duly compensating her company. Famfa Oil went to court to challenge the acquisition, and in May 2012, the Nigerian Supreme Court reinstated the 50% stake. Chevron owns 40%.
Alakija is not keen to delve into the details of her battle with Obasanjo’s government, but she is forthright about her readiness to stand up for what she believes in. She says the Obasanjo regime “just took” her oil block and had no interest in negotiating with her or her family. “We were prepared to fight them because we had the law on our side.”
She speaks quietly but pointedly about how fellow Nigerians had cautioned her against taking on the government of the day. “You are really foolish, you can’t win against government” was a common refrain. But Alakija says, for her family, the choice was clear. They had to stand their ground. She recalls how many fair-weather friends “stood back and watched” while she was fighting the state to reclaim her seized assets.
“It was a real eye-opener. It made us better Christians. For every battle we fought, a better lesson was learnt,” she says philosophically.
In May 2012, with the law and the Lord on her side, Alakija’s oil shares were restored by a Supreme Court writ. The landmark decision morphed the oil baroness into another stratosphere, placing her in the spotlight, not only on the continent, but also globally.
Now a regular at the Brics Business Council meetings and other intra-African trade meet-and-greet soirées, Alakija is easily recognizable in her iconic, colorful headwraps. A member of the elite guild of Africa’s uber-rich, she is an integral part of a small coterie of business people and policy analysts are keen to parade as the drivers of the Africa Rising narrative. Their stories are compelling and signal a departure from the prism of hopeless and despair through which Africa is historically depicted.
Alakija and her fellow billionaires are the new breed of African global players. They are leading examples of progress and economic growth, and more importantly, they are proof of the handsome returns on investments available to an increasingly affluent middle class.
In a modern, democratic Nigeria, sans military dictators, Alakija epitomizes Africa’s promise. She embodies the can-do attitude projected by many of her countrymen and – women in the private sector. It is the approach Nigerians often use when they engage with business players and investors keen to exploit the county’s vast oil resources, despite its obvious infrastructural weaknesses.
Alakija is vocal about the importance of African countries shifting away from extractive-based economies. “Gone are the days of the multinationals that just take and go. Our eyes are open. We won’t allow it a second time.”
Her sentiments are strong, but some argue that it is easier said than done. Despite Nigeria and Angola’s oil-producing status globally, both countries still need to re-route crude oil off the continent to be refined.
Alakija concedes that Africa has its share of challenges. But she is opt-imistic that its political and business leaders are prepared to hire the exp-ertise, cultivate the technology and go the distance to add real value.
She is also a strong proponent of intra-African trade, saying Africans need to band together to develop their businesses and increase their market share in the global stakes.
“We need to hold each other’s hands. As Africans, the barriers are crumbling. A divided Africa is in no one’s interests. We face common challenges and for all those reasons we need to cooperate more, to trade more, to visit each other’s countries, and take hands and work together.”
She is happy that Africa’s democratization program has heralded economic prosperity and greater economic growth, not just for its uber-rich, but also for its expanding professional classes.
Her sought-after properties in Dubai and London, her private jet and her extensive high couture wardrobe have become fodder for anyone wanting to boast about Africa’s newly minted billionaires. Alakija owns five apartments, one of them in One Hyde Park in London, the world’s most expensive apartment block, according to Vanity Fair.
But in a world with finite resources, to be rich is no longer enough. Net worth has to be larger than the size of your portfolio or your bank balance, says Alakija. Even more so in the wake of the global financial crises, where conspicuous consumption invites opprobrium and scorn.
While philanthropy and charity are often the hallmarks of the super-rich, who believe they have to give back in some way, increasingly wealthy Africans know that in order to remain rich, good deeds are necessary.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-5877" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2013-Dec-Jan-018-023-LEAD-Alakija-003-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" />
Put differently, there is a real value proposition in giving away money. It makes more money. It leads to tax breaks. For all you naysayers, just ask Bill and Melinda Gates, who are leading corporate citizens. They have not only made philanthropy sexy, but infinitely more profitable.
This is why the wealthy – even the nouveau riche – are increasingly involved in charitable trusts and donor organizations. As the affluent get richer, often at the expense of the poor, charity and philanthropy have become buzzwords for those seeking to draw attention away from crass materialism and ostentation.
This is nowhere more obvious than in countries where the chasm between the haves and the have-nots grows ever wider, and where the origins of extreme wealth are sometimes ascribed to being in the right place at the right time. Responding to my earlier question about Alakija’s proximity to power and patronage, one Nigerian social activist offered: “In my country, Nigeria, depending on whose mistress you are, you can become a millionaire in the space of a half an hour.”
Stories and rumors abound about the oil baroness’s good fortune. Her detractors in the social justice networks believe that privately wealthy Nigerians owe their largesse to their government connections, not because they are particularly competent or industrious. Others who admire Alakija’s business prowess are adamant that she genuinely cares for the underprivileged. They believe remarkable tenacity and fortitude lie at the heart of her enormous wealth.
When I ask if her extreme mammon makes her uncomfortable, Alakija responds: “My wealth allows me to reach out to others, to those in need. I am a God-fearing woman and I am not in competition with anyone. I use my wealth to touch the lives of others.”
Through the Rose of Sharon Foundation, the oil tycoon dedicates money, time and effort to ease the burden of widows and orphans. Women and their well-being are at the center of her good deeds.
“We need to understand how central women are to households and their communities. They are the ones that are putting food on the table. Their education is therefore crucial. Women can really transform a nation. Food and education are just two of the many issues that need addressing when we talk women empowerment,” she points out.
Alakija attributes her charitable nature to a lifelong dedication to Christianity. She believes she needs to make a difference by helping to educate those in need. The Rose of Sharon Foundation has chapters all over Nigeria and Alakija says she is proud of and encouraged by their impact on the lived realities of women.
“At first I just wanted to give away the money. But I then realized that whatever charity we perform, it must be sustainable. So now we assist with microfinancing, scholarships and education,” she says.
English poet and historian William Hutton once cautioned: “The charity that hastens to proclaim its good deeds ceases to be charity, and is only pride and ostentation.” When asses-sing Alakija’s life story and her many, many good deeds, Hutton’s words are food for thought.
But it is French-Algerian philosopher Albert Camus who nails it on the head for me: “Too many have dispensed with generosity in order to practice charity.”

FOLORUNSHO ALAKIJA Nigeria oil baroness

It’s hard to find an article on Stedman Graham that doesn’t mention his media-mogul fiancé, of 22 years. The hype and media frenzy that surrounds the queen of talk, Oprah Winfrey, could mean he often lives in her shadow.
“The beautiful thing about it is that even though people in the outside world define me by that, that’s not how I define myself… The bottom line is you’ve got to be a pretty strong person to even be with a person who is able to self-actualize herself and who is a woman, you can’t be weak, you have to step up,” says Graham.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-2569" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/175658371-209x300.jpg" alt="" width="209" height="300" />
Growing up in Whitesboro, New Jersey, Graham had yet to find the self-awareness that he is now blessed with. He grew up with two disabled brothers and a family with a low self-esteem which rubbed off on him.
“I was defined by my race, I was defined by my background and I was defined by my family, all of those things,” he says.
One of his first jobs was as a prison guard, for five years. He then worked in the recreation department and later the education department. But it was a trip to South Africa that changed his life.
In the mid-eighties, Graham took a job in South Africa where he delivered food and clothes to people in the townships on behalf of an aid organization.
“I was working with a gentleman [Bob Brown] and he educated Nelson Mandela’s children. He was a nominee for the ambassador of South Africa and I worked for him and traveled all around the world with him. He was also a special assistant to president [Richard] Nixon, so we had very close ties to the White House. We had a network of folks that we would do work for as a business consultant and South Africa was one of those places that we came to.”
Graham saw the suffering of the South African people and although he is black, he never bore the wrath of racists.
“…as a South African you experienced the racism, but if you were an American you were treated differently.”
Almost 20 years since his first visit to South Africa, Graham retuned in 2013, to speak at a Mega Partnering Event on maximizing one’s potential to achieve success, and was surprised at what he saw.
“I love the way that you’re transitioning and transforming the country. I love the diversity of South Africa and I think that’s the key word… The message [for the people of South Africa] should be: If you want to invest in South Africa, invest in yourself.”
As for Graham’s secret to success, it is all about making the most of the 24 hours you have each day.
“I know that success is when preparation meets opportunity. Now, South Africa has the opportunity, it’s about how you prepare the people for the opportunity. When you prepare the people for the opportunity you’re going to get a booming economy. Your country is only as good as the skills of its people, it’s only as good as the education of its people,” says Graham.
Although South Africa has made many strides, Graham says one of the country’s biggest challenges is the belief that it can succeed on its own. He says businesses need to make use of the resources and opportunities that international investors want to offer.
“It’s like Nelson Mandela said, ‘this is not about black empowerment, it’s not about white empowerment, it’s about people empowerment. When we get along, we realize that we’re all in this together and it’s about a world-wide economy and what we want to do is empower as many people as possible worldwide and educate them worldwide.’”
Beside every strong man is an even stronger woman; but beside every strong woman is a man who is secure in his identity.

‘You Can’t Be Weak You Have To Step Up’

WHEN MEDIA MOGUL  Oprah Winfrey bid farewell to 25 years of The Oprah Winfrey Show in May, she left viewers with a cliff-hanger. “I won’t say good-bye,” Winfrey said on her final show. “Until we meet again.”
<div id="attachment_197" style="width: 823px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-197" class="size-full wp-image-197" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/FO101011_191.jpg" alt="" width="813" height="621" />In 1976, at 22, Oprah became coanchor of Baltimore&#8217;s WJZTV</div>
But the promise of that glorified gathering place on her glittering new cable network, OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network, has fallen short of expectations. OWN’s 24-hour-a-day programming launched on Jan. 1 in 80 million homes as a partnership between Winfrey’s Harpo production company and cable programming powerhouse Discovery Communications. The goal was to remake a forgotten, high-numbered cable channel into Oprah-branded gold. Ratings quickly tanked. Chief Executive Christina Norman was shown the door in May. Winfrey became the chair, CEO and chief creative officer in July. Now the pressure is on Oprah to save TV’s feel-good network.
Winfrey admitted to fans on Facebook that OWN hadn’t found its flow because she and her staff had been too focused on ending the syndicated Oprah TV show. (Winfrey declined an interview with FORBES.) Critics argue that the issues run deeper. Since OWN’s launch in January its average prime-time audience dropped 37% to 250,000 viewers in July, according to Nielsen. An average of 109,000 viewers tuned in on an all-day basis that month—just one-third of the viewership expected by advertisers.
<div id="attachment_199" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-199" class="size-full wp-image-199" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/FO101011_193.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="683" />Founded Harpo in 1986</div>
Robert Thompson, the founding director of the Bleier Center for Television &amp; Popular Culture at Syracuse University, believes OWN launched too early, without enough programming. The shows it does have are weak, he says. Adding to the troubles: OWN is difficult to find on the channel guide. “Some people thought anything Oprah introduced would be a hit. She could introduce the chicken pox, and people would want to get it,” says Thompson. “We now know Oprah’s name isn’t enough.”
Discovery Communications Chief Executive David Zaslav, who approached Winfrey with the idea for an Oprah-inspired network in 2007 and subsequently okayed pumping nearly $200 million into it, says he isn’t worried by the lower-than-expected ratings. “It’s going to take time,” Zaslav insists. “There is no cable channel that launches from nowhere to immediate success.”
Zaslav has pushed for more involvement from Oprah. He persuaded Winfrey to double her on-air time in 2009, before the launch. With Winfrey in charge, “Oprah’s now at the center of OWN,” Zaslav beams. “This is the moment we’ve been waiting for.”
Winfrey may be one of the media industry’s best brand managers, but can she rise to the role of a programming executive? On Aug. 1, after spending her first full week focused on the channel, she told fans that while she wasn’t “frazzled” by OWN’s performance, managing it turned out to be one of her biggest challenges. “It’s ten times harder than doing my daily show,” she said in a Facebook note. “Doing that show felt like breathing every day. Now I’m in so many meetings I sometimes have to step out and catch a breath.”
<div id="attachment_200" style="width: 685px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-200" class="size-full wp-image-200" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/FO101011_189.jpg" alt="" width="675" height="805" />Started monthly O magazine in 2000. Has over 2 million subscribers</div>
Part of Winfrey’s new strategy is integrating OWN’s staff in L.A. with Harpo’s staff in Chicago. “One team, one heart,” goes the mantra. Harpo presidents Sheri Salata and Erik Logan were tapped as OWN presidents in July and will lead both teams. Instead of chasing ratings, Salata and Logan plan to focus their attention on brand-consistent programming and hope better ratings will follow. “We feel very bullish that we will deliver on the commitments that we have in the marketplace,” says Logan.
Zaslav, too, maintains that advertisers— OWN launched with about ten blue-chip ad clients that had signed multiyear deals—have been incredibly supportive. Of them, Target, Kellogg’s and Procter &amp; Gamble declined to comment. A General Motors representative says GM remains committed to OWN.
Some close OWN watchers warn that advertisers’ support has just about reached its limit. Derek Baine, a senior analyst at media research firm SNL Kagan, says OWN’s ratings have sometimes been lower than the ratings for the Discovery Health channel, which preceded OWN on the same channel number. “If we get to the end of the year and ratings are still terrible, then it’s a big problem. Advertisers will pull back on their commitments.”
That means Winfrey has to work fast to ensure OWN’s new programming— scheduled to launch Oct. 10— catches on. After all, even with her $2.7 billion net worth Oprah can’t subsidize a cable network indefinitely. OWN executives are placing most of their hopes on a daily talk show, The Rosie Show, hosted by comedienne Rosie O’Donnell, and a rehash of the Oprah show, called Oprah’s Lifeclass. The latter will use select clips from the 4,561 Oprah episodes, along with new footage of Winfrey sharing personal revelations and life lessons. “At my core I’m a teacher, masquerading as a talk show host. And now I’ll have a nightly class on OWN,” Winfrey said on Facebook.
<div id="attachment_201" style="width: 442px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-201" class="size-full wp-image-201" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/FO101011_190.jpg" alt="" width="432" height="288" />Republican presidential candidate Texas Gov. George W. Bush chats with talk show host Oprah Winfrey Tuesday Sept. 19, 2000 after appearing on the program in Chicago. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)</div>
In January a second show hosted by Winfrey, Oprah’s Next Chapter, will follow her around the world as she interviews high-profile subjects. “All it takes is a couple of big hits,” says Syracuse University’s Thompson. “The really important question is, can Oprah still do a hit show?”
It’s a bet that Winfrey, with Zaslav’s backing, is willing to make. With the cable property valued as high as $1 billion, it’s no small risk. “We’re making a lot of progress,” says Zaslav. “Watch out for us over the next two to three years. We’re going to make a big splash, and we’re going to have a big impact.”
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Tag: Oprah Winfrey

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