Oprah Winfrey has much to celebrate this holiday weekend. On Tuesday, OWN released their ratings report revealing more than thirty-percent growth in their viewership –their best quarter yet.
Winfrey, who is unarguably one of the most influential figures in media today, has admittedly struggled to keep her channel afloat. “If I were writing a book about it, I might call the book 101 Mistakes,” Winfrey shared in a CBS interview just a year ago.
Since the networks debut in January 2011, OWN has faced a number of challenges some of which resulted in laying off a number of employees including talk show host Rosie O’Donnell in early 2012.
OWN’s successful quarter is due in part to Winfrey’s partnership with Tyler Perry. Last October, Perry announced that he would team up with the media mogul to produce two new shows for the network. Perry’s scandalous new drama, The Haves and the Have Nots, premiered in May and set a new record for OWN. The show earned 1.77 million viewers during its first episode making it the highest rated series premiere in the network’s history.
Perry and Winfrey have proven to be a match made in TV heaven! But more than that, they have created a strong bond that reflects in the work they produce.
In the June issue of ESSENCE, both Winfrey and Perry talk at length about the strength of their friendship and business relationship. “We both know how rare this is,” says Winfrey. “Where else in the history of our African-American culture have two really, really successful people who can do whatever they want said, ‘Let’s come together and be even more powerful—let’s take it to the tenth power?'”
We wish OWN continued success in the future.
