Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s CBS interview with Oprah ratings

About 17.1 million people tuned in to Oprah Winfrey’s Sunday night interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on CBS, according to the network, citing Nielsen data.

The two-hour session, called “Oprah with Meghan and Harry: A CBS Primetime Special,” scored 2.6 among adults aged 18 to 49. Those numbers will likely increase as the adjusted data for home viewing and delayed viewing arrives the next day. Nielsen traditionally displays official figures for Sunday events late the following Tuesday.

It is the largest prime-time audience for any entertainment specials in the current 2020-2021 television season and the second-most-streamed CBS event outside of the National Football League. and Super Bowl Sunday.

These preliminary numbers are a solid comeback for CBS, which reportedly paid Oprah’s Harpo Productions a license fee of between $ 7 million and $ 9 million to air the special. Meghan and Harry were not paid to participate in the interview.

By comparison, more people watched the interview than watched the September Emmy Awards and last month’s Golden Globes combined. The interview is proof that even in an age of streaming, there are still events that can draw huge numbers of viewers to traditional network television.

The interview with Oprah went deeper into why the couple decided to leave England and step away from royal duties.

Meghan and Harry addressed the lack of support Meghan received when she went to the palace over mental health issues, the denial of protection for the safety of the couple’s child Archie and the royal family’s concerns over Archie’s skin tone once he was born.

The parallels between Meghan and Harry’s mother Diana were clear even before the couple made their own comparisons during the interview. Harry noted that they were cut off financially by the royal family in early 2020 and that he and Meghan were only able to get by on the legacy his mother left him.

He added that the deals he and Meghan made with Netflix and Spotify were in part made to meet their ongoing security needs.

The couple also revealed they were married before the official royal wedding in a small, intimate ceremony and announced that their second child was a girl.