Oprah's OWN Network Looks to Target African-American Viewers

It’s no secret that Oprah Winfrey’s television network OWN has had a slow start since its launch in January. As executives continue to try and boost ratings, they’re looking to cater more to an African-American audience.

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OWN executives came to this conclusion after seeing the explosive success of the OWN reality show, “Sweetie Pies” which premiered in October.  The show, which follows St. Louis’ iconic and wildly popular soul food restaurant, enjoys an average viewership of 418,000, almost double the network’s primetime audience of 216,000.

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“Anytime you have a program that pops like ‘Sweetie Pies’ did, you start looking at what drove it,” network president Erik Logan told Adweek. “We saw that the African-American audience really had a connection with that show. We’re going to look at ways to nurture and grow that.”

Logan added that OWN executives will be taking the success of “Sweetie Pies” into consideration when deciding on future programming and pitching to new advertisers. If OWN does begin to cater to the African-American audience more specifically, it will be a first for Oprah, who rose to fame by building a wide, diverse fan base.

Do you think Oprah’s OWN should shift its focus to a Black audience?