Measuring the 'Oprah Effect' on the Bottom Line

Nov. 20, 2009 — -- Oprah Winfrey's plans to end her popular afternoon talk show in 2011 have left her many fans devastated. But executives in industries ranging from publishing to television to mom-and-pop stationery stores are also feeling a bit teary-eyed -- because, aside from being a TV mega-celebrity, Oprah Winfrey has been a big moneymaker for a lot of people.

"It definitely has a huge impact. I don't think stations will be closing up business, but there is concern," said Marc Berman, a television analyst with Mediaweek. The impact will primarily be felt at ABC, because the syndicated talk show aired predominantly on local ABC stations across the country.

Last week the program averaged 6.5 million viewers, making it the No. 1 daytime television talk show. Many viewers tended to stick around to watch the local news on the ABC stations on which Oprah aired. That meant bigger audiences for the news shows, which meant more revenue from ad sales.

"It was a tremendous moneymaker, and one of their primary sources of income," said Berman.

Still, carrying "The Oprah Winfrey Show" was not without its downside for local television affiliates. Oprah's distributor, CBS Television Distribution, charged high licensing fees for the show. According to Broadcasting and Cable, an industry magazine, WABC-TV in New York paid $270,000 per week to carry the show and WLS-TV in Chicago paid about $225,000 per week.

That's a lot of money for struggling local stations to shell out. In addition, the audience for the "The Oprah Winfrey Show," while still large, had dropped by about half over the past 10 years from a peak of about 11 million viewers.

As to what happens now, it's anyone's guess, although Dr. Mehmet Oz, an Oprah alum, has been doing very well and now ties "Live With Regis and Kelly" as the third–highest-rated daytime talk show.

If the post-Oprah television landscape is in a state of flux, the publishing industry is positively reeling at the thought that Oprah's Book Club may not survive the talk show's demise.

In 1996, the book club started as a small feature on "The Oprah Winfrey Show." Constance Sayre was a publishing executive at the time.