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    World viewership of Harry and Meghan’s interview nearly 50 million; Nielsen week in review

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments1173 Views
    A man watches a phone screen showing an interview of Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex, by Oprah Winfrey, in London Monday, March 8, 2021. (Aaron Chown/PA via AP)

    By David Bauder, Media Writer

    NEW YORK (AP) --

    Worldwide viewership of Oprah Winfrey's interview with British royals Prince Harry and Meghan is up to nearly 50 million people — and counting — as CBS quickly scheduled a Friday night rerun for anyone who missed it the first time.

    The estimate of 49.1 million viewers in 17 countries is sure to rise. Not all of the ratings are in, and CBS licensed the interview to air in more than 80 territories, the network said.

    In the United States, the interview was seen by 17.8 million people on CBS, the Nielsen company said. It aired a night later in Britain, where ITV said it had 13.3 million viewers, a huge number for a smaller country.

    CBS said the interview will be shown again Friday, from 8 to 10 p.m.

    It was still a topic of conversation on Tuesday. In Britain, former CNN personality Piers Morgan quit the "Good Morning, Britain" program  following a furor over comments he made criticizing the Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex. He was dressed down by the show's weather forecaster and stormed off the set.

    Winfrey's talk was the rare interview to exceed the hype. CBS had originally set aside 90 minutes for the broadcast but, after the interview actually took place, bumped it up to two hours.

    The success is likely to have reverberations for the industry, perhaps most immediately bolstering broadcast television's case that it is still a potent force for showing big events.

    It might also have networks looking for more big-name interviews. They used to be a staple of prime-time broadcast television, but are seen much less frequently now. Some of the big names that used to chase such interviews, like Diane Sawyer and Barbara Walters, have stepped away from the business.

    Powered by Winfrey and royals, CBS won the week with an average of 6 million viewers in primetime. ABC had 3.5 million, NBC had 3.2 million, Fox had 2.5 million, Univision had 1.3 million, Ion Television had 1.1 million and Telemundo had 1 million.

    Fox News Channel led the cable networks, averaging 2.37 million viewers in primetime. MSNBC had 1.88 million, TNT had 1.41 million, CNN had 1.25 million and HGTV had 1.11 million.

    ABC's "World News Tonight" won the evening news ratings race with an average of 9.3 million viewers. NBC's "Nightly News" had 7.5 million and the "CBS Evening News" had 5.5 million.

    For the week of March 1-7, the top 20 programs, their networks and viewerships:

    1. "Oprah with Meghan & Harry," CBS, 17.81 million.
    2. "60 Minutes," CBS, 10.04 million.
    3. "NCIS," CBS, 9.61 million.
    4. "The Voice" (Monday), NBC, 7.9 million.
    5. "Young Sheldon," CBS, 7.71 million.
    6. "FBI," CBS, 7.37 million.
    7. "911," Fox, 6.41 million.
    8. "The Voice" (Tuesday), NBC, 6.36 million.
    9. "Blue Bloods," CBS, 6.3 million.
    10. "Equalizer," CBS, 5.87 million.
    11. "FBI: Most Wanted," CBS, 5.74 million.
    12. "Celebrity Wheel of Fortune," ABC, 5.72 million.
    13. "Magnum, P.I.," CBS, 5.63 million.
    14. "America's Funniest Home Videos," ABC, 5.59 million.
    15. "911: Lone Star," Fox, 5.34 million.
    16. "American Idol," ABC, 5.29 million.
    17. "Mom," CBS, 5.28 million.
    18. "B Positive," CBS, 5.07 million.
    19. "The Bachelor," ABC, 4.74 million.
    20. NBA Basketball: NBA All-Star Game, TNT, 4.67 million.

    Tags:60 MinutesCBSNielsenOprah with Meghan & Harry



    Ex-OpenAI engineer who raised legal concerns about the technology he helped build has died

    Saturday, December 21, 2024
    Suchir Balaji poses for a photo in Hawaii in 2018. Balaji was a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who died in November 2024. (Balaji Ramamurthy via AP)

    Suchir Balaji, a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who helped train the artificial intelligence systems behind ChatGPT and later said he believed those practices violated copyright law, has died, according to his parents and San Francisco officials. He was 26.

    Balaji worked at OpenAI for nearly four years before quitting in August. He was well-regarded by colleagues at the San Francisco company, where a co-founder this week called him one of OpenAI's strongest contributors who was essential to developing some of its products.

    "We are devastated to learn of this incredibly sad news and our hearts go out to Suchir's loved ones during this difficult time," said a statement from OpenAI.

    Balaji was found dead in his San Francisco apartment on Nov. 26 in what police said "appeared to be a suicide. No evidence of foul play was found during the initial investigation." The city's chief medical examiner's office confirmed the manner of death to be suicide.

    His parents Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy said they are still seeking answers, describing their son as a "happy, smart and brave young man" who loved to hike and recently returned from a trip with friends.

    Balaji grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and first arrived at the fledgling AI research lab for a 2018 summer internship while studying computer science at the University of California, Berkeley. He returned a few years later to work at OpenAI, where one of his first projects, called WebGPT, helped pave the way for ChatGPT.

    "Suchir's contributions to this project were essential, and it wouldn't have succeeded without him," said OpenAI co-founder John Schulman in a social media post memorializing Balaji. Schulman, who recruited Balaji to his team, said what... Read More

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