Meghan Markle & Prince Harry Interview Had 3x As Many Viewers As Golden Globes 2021

Attachment 47445

The two-hour interview Oprah with Meghan and Harry: A CBS Primetime Special pulled in an eye-popping 17.1 million viewers Sunday night, over three times more viewers than tuned in to last week’s Golden Globes. While the 78th Golden Globe Awards saw the Hollywood Foreign Press Association honor the best actors, movies, and television of the year, the former royals sat down with Oprah Winfrey last night to discuss their reasons for deciding to leave England and step down from their royal duties.

Topics of discussion during the interview ranged from the lack of support Meghan received from the royal family during her struggles with mental health, the royal family’s concern over the color of their son Archie's skin, and Archie eventually being denied security protection. The couple also compared their ongoing struggles with the royal family to that of Harry’s late mother Diana, whose conflict with the royal family and tabloid media was highly publicized before she tragically died in a car crash in 1997. Harry also revealed they were cut off financially by the royal family early last year, and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been getting by on an inheritance his mother left him.

Now, the Nielsen ratings are in for Oprah Winfrey’s two-hour bombshell interview with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry on CBS. According to The Wall Street Journal, 17.1 million viewers watched the special, which is more than three times as many people who watched the 2021 Golden Globes. The Globes only drew 5.4 million viewers. The highly anticipated interview had the largest primetime audience for any entertainment special during the 2020-2021 television season and was the second-largest audience for any television event behind the Super Bowl. These numbers are likely to increase as Nielsen releases the adjusted data for streaming.

Attachment 47447

The Sunday night time slot has been a prime one for television interviews in recent decades. Diane Sawyer’s 2015 interview with Caitlyn Jenner is a recent example, which Oprah’s interview with Meghan and Harry looks to beat in terms of official audience numbers. However, the audience for the former royals’ interview is dwarfed by Oprah’s 1993 live interview with pop superstar Michael Jackson, which drew a massive audience of 62 million.

Oprah’s interview with Meghan and Harry proves that traditional network television events can still draw a considerable audience. Although, events such as the Golden Globes and Emmy awards have experienced low Nielsen numbers recently, possibly due to COVID disruptions and the rapid migration to streaming. For those who missed the Oprah with Meghan and Harry special, it is available to watch via CBS streaming apps.