Oprah's OWN Network Puts Up Solid Debut Numbers

After years of preparation and more than a few third party second guesses, Oprah’s venture into cable finally began this past weekend, and she did, well, that kind of depends on your perspective. During primetime on premiere night, OWN averaged over a million viewers, a very solid figure propelled largely by the first episode of Season 25: Oprah Behind The Scenes. The program by itself finished 3rd against all other cable competition in its key demographic: women 25-54. Cable is all about playing the niche game, and as niches go, Oprah has developed a pretty solid one over the last two and a half decades.

According to Deadline, OWN held relatively strong on the second day as well, only dropping 18%, a dramatic increase compared against the figures Discovery Health was putting up just a few weeks ago. The only real disappointment thus far was Master Class. The profile show was expected to be one of the network’s flagships, but its 600,000 plus viewers made it the lowest primetime offering OWN put up.

To an optimist, these numbers likely signal a rosy future for the repackaged cable network. Oprah has been telling anyone who will listen that it’s about building for the future, and these early figures indicate people are able to find OWN on the dial. But on the flipside, with over two hundred million invested, the cable network should be putting up these figures early on. Only time will tell whether these early viewers were curious or in it for the long haul.