Surprising Stats Reveal How Oprah Winfrey Used Her Final Season

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) November 6, 2011 -- A surprising study of Oprah Winfrey’s final season reveals that the talk host spent more time promoting her new cable network than any other subject and that the second-most covered topic was the LGBT lifestyle.

Each episode of Winfrey’s final year was analyzed by Communication Professor Stephen Winzenburg, known for his studies of how television preachers use their airtime. He concluded, “Despite Oprah’s claim that she would set the bar high and honor the viewers, she spent much of her final year promoting her TV productions and marketing products from sponsors.”

Television was the main topic on 21 of the 130 episodes and most of those involved either Winfrey programs or her OWN cable network partners. Her guests included almost every celebrity associated with the new Oprah Winfrey Network, such as Rosie O’Donnell, Sarah Ferguson, Shania Twain, Chaz Bono, Ryan O’Neal, the Judds, Dr. Phil and Suze Orman.
Oprah also promoted shows from the Discovery Channel, her partner at OWN, and devoted an entire episode to vegan author Kathy Freston, the wife of OWN financial partner Tom Freston.

Some of the studies major findings include:

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues were on 14 episodes during the final season, compared to an average of five episodes per year in the past.

Racism, politics, education and spirituality were discussed in depth on only three or four shows each during the last year.

59% of the guests were female and 71% white, with the average adult age being 47. African-Americans made up 25% of the guests, while only 2% were Latino.

Despite Oprah’s claim on the season’s first episode that she was “doing a show about everyday people,” 80% of the shows featured celebrities and only one-third had significant participation from average people. The most often-seen guests were Carson Kressley, Gayle King and Lisa Ling—all hosts of shows on Winfrey’s new cable network.

Only 16% of the episodes had giveaway elements, with major audience handouts on five programs.

An estimated $33 million in cash and merchandise was awarded, about half to the studio audience and half to guests. Over 80% of that amount was provided by sponsors. On only three occasions did Oprah state that she was personally doing some of the giving, and that was to individual guests in conjunction with others.

Winzenburg, who teaches broadcasting at Grand View University in Des Moines, concluded that while Winfrey claimed to represent average viewers, she often expressed views that were outside the mainstream. She spent an hour with a polygamous family and said it was a “lifestyle choice.” Oprah called a couple that were raising their seven-year-old boy as a girl “highly evolved parents.” She introduced Shirley MacLaine as “one of my greatest teachers” just before the actress said that when people die they can “decide to reincarnate on another planet…we probably have experiences there and it’s in our memory system.”

Winzenburg said the daytime program would often tackle adult topics without warning children who may be watching, including 30-year-old women trying to lose their virginity, a woman shown cleaning naked, graphic sexual advice for couples with intimacy issues and at the beginning of a show with 200 men who had been molested as children.

“At times there seemed to be an insensitivity toward a program’s impact on the viewing audience. For example, a scene from a shocking episode involving twin girls who were raped by their father and brothers was posted on Oprah’s website—but before it could be viewed people had to sit through an ad for K-Y Intense sexual jelly.”

He said the season was also filled with moments where “Winfrey condemned materialism and the public’s obsession with celebrities, yet her show was all about marketing famous entertainers and telling viewers to buy products.” He noted that some episodes “seemed like infomercials, such as an hour with singer Jennifer Hudson, who is a paid spokesperson for Weight Watchers.” There was also the “vegan challenge” where Winfrey’s employees went a week without meat under the guidance of cookbook author Kathy Freston who is married to Winfrey’s partner at OWN.

Although Oprah said on the air that it wasn’t her intention to promote herself, there were numerous mentions of her new cable network, O magazine, other daytime programs she produces like Dr. Oz, her friend Gayle King on the Oprah satellite radio channel and TV series from her cable partner Discovery. Winzenburg concluded that while Winfrey’s final season did have a few “unforgettable moments” that were fun to watch, “too many episodes ended up being about marketing.”

Winzenburg’s lengthy study was presented to the Popular Culture Association conference in San Antonio and is available at StephenWinzenburg.com. He concluded, “Winfrey’s gift was that she could influence a dedicated core audience and she used those skills to promote advertisers and her OWN cable network. The final season of her talk show was not just about inspiring viewers but proved that her greatest legacy may be that of master marketer.”

He can be contacted at SWinzenburg@grandview.edu or 515-263-2997.

MAJOR FINAL SEASON TOPICS COVERED (out of 130 episodes)
1. TV shows – 21 times
2. Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender issues (LGBT) – 14 times
3. Movies – 12 times
4. Music – 10 times
5. Crime – 9 times
Relationships – 9 times
Therapy/mental health – 9 times

GUESTS
Total number of guests: 730
Average number of guests per show: 6
Average adult guest age: 47 female, 48 male
Guest gender: 59% female, 41% male
Adult guest ethnicity: White: 71%, Black 25%, Latino 2%, Asian 2%

TYPES OF MAJOR GUESTS PER SHOW
Celebrity – 67%

Average People – 20%
Celebrity & Average People – 13%

ESTIMATED AMOUNT OF PRIZE GIVEAWAYS

SPONSOR giveaways to audience $16,810,000
SPONSOR giveaways to guests $8,030,000
VIEWER giveaways to guests
(The Angel Network) $6,000,000
SHOW giveaways to guests $25,000
OPRAH (with others)
giveaways to guests $2,038,000

TOTAL $32,903,000

final season     oprah     oprah winfrey     Winzenburg