As most of you know, today is New Year's Day and the debut of OWN: the Oprah Winfrey Network. OWN has gotten much press. Not only is it anticipated because it belongs to Oprah, it is the first personalized cable channel. It also a big venture. It is to replace Discovery Health channel, it is a partnership between Oprah and Discovery, and Discovery has invested about $200 million (as reported by Brian Stelter of NY Times). I read two NY Times articles, “Oprah’s Network is Her Highest Hurdle” and “Shaping a Network With Oprah’s View” both by Brian Stelter. Instead of giving summaries, I’m going to give some important points about OWN.
Oprah Has Planned This For a Long Time
Often celebrities are approached to simply give their name to a product. Even if some of those celebrities may have always wanted to enter into such a venture, most have not prepared for it. Oprah is a different story. According to “Oprah’s Network is Her Highest Hurdle”, she thought up OWN in 1992. She previous attempted a move into cable as the co-founder of Oxygen network. That didn’t go well for her and it was sold to NBC Universal. According to Oprah, the experience taught her: “don’t partner when you’re not allowed to be in charge and make a decision”. And in 2007, she partnered with Discovery to mold OWN. This has been a well establish goal and she has made efforts to make it happen.
No One Expects a Phenomenon Right Away
While the press has given OWN tremendous attention, Oprah and Discovery are not blind to reality. They realize the network may not be profitable in the beginning. OWN is going to replace a channel that ,according to Discovery, didn’t have a lot of viewers. Some people may not get OWN on their network. Plus, the Oprah Winfrey Show was on a free channel for 25 years; viewers may not be able to transition to cable. These are all facts not lost on the OWN community.
According to Stelter, executives are stating, “the channel should be judged not by its first week, but by its first year- or its second. Or its third.” Oprah has stated that “By 2013, [OWN] should be cracking”. And Benjamin Swinburne of Morgan Stanley forecasted that OWN “[will post] $220 million in revenue at a 34 percent profit margin by 2015”.
No one at the network is disillusioned. There, of course, will be those who will see the first few profit-less years as a sign of failure for OWN. For the network, those first few years are very expected and, for them, profit will come later.
And If All Goes Well...
We might see more personalized channels on cable. I can’t think of other celebrities branded like Oprah but it’s not crazy to imagine personalized cable channels. Stelter writes, “Martha Stewart claimed a big chunk of Hallmark Channel’s schedule”. Could this mean a Martha Stewart network?
OWN is a special case considering Oprah has a complete brand. She has episodes spanning every possible topic from sex to crime to education to cooking to endless others. She has a magazine, which is an extension of the show. Between both entities, someone could live the Oprah Winfrey lifestyle. I don’t think she wants people to seriously follow her like the bible. But she has become a library on advice about almost every aspect of life. Therefore, creating a network about Oprah Winfrey is not ludicrous. All one has to do is expand the brand further to a channel. With all the topics she covers and the many guests and professionals who provide their expert advice, OWN has plenty of ideas to work with.
You may not have OWN on your channel listings. You may not care to even watch it. Oprah deserves major kudos for gaining a deal that allows her control of and inclusion into OWN. As mentioned, Oprah has a complete brand, which is how I see the channel making sense. Just remember, It will take a few years to know if the network is a success. Oh, and by the way, Happy New Year!
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