Oprah's Network Slow Out of the Gate

By Chuck Sudo in Arts & Entertainment on Feb 28, 2011 9:20PM

The initial ratings for Oprah Winfrey's television network are in and they aren't rosy. If a color were to be ascribed to the ratings, it would probably be closer to the unnatural colors found in her network logo.

The New York Times reports that 135,000 people were tuned into the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) at any given moment in February, according to Nielsen data. OWN is particularly underperforming among women ages 25-54, which is their target demographic. Those numbers are down ten percent over those last year for Discovery Health, the network that preceded OWN.

OWN CEO Christina Norman stressed that the network's original programming is doing better than the programs Discovery Health aired the previous year. But the Nielsen data indicates viewers aren't sticking around for repeats. Still, Winfrey and her broadcast partner, Discovery Communications, stress patience as the network seeks its sea legs and waits for its titular star to come fully into the fold once The Oprah Winfrey Show wraps up its run later this year. Discovery is also pumping an additional $50 million into OWN atop its initial $189 investment before the network's New Year's Day launch. We still aren't convinced that OWN can find the 50-60 million monthly viewers Norman is projecting for a network built around Oprah, Gayle King, Oprah, Oprah, Lisa Ling, Oprah, Nancy O'Dell, Oprah, Gayle King and Oprah.