Winfrey looks to the Web to energize OWN
After 25 years on TV, Oprah Winfrey says shes having the time of her life on the Web.
The 57-year-old mogul is connecting with viewers through her weekly webcasts, and she says its the most fun Ive had ever.
Winfreys live webcast discussions about her new show, Oprahs Lifeclass, have been so popular, theyve been added to the lineup on the Oprah Winfrey Network.
Lifeclass premiered earlier this month and features Winfrey sharing her favorite interviews and insights from her long-running talk show. On Fridays, she discusses Lifeclass lessons during an hour-long webcast with a live audience, and invites viewers to comment or ask questions in person or through Facebook, Twitter and Skype.
Response to the webcasts has been so positive that Winfrey and her team decided to air them on OWN.
That was my vision of what this network could be, she said in a recent interview. Youre interacting with people, youre on TV, youre saying stuff that you think is meaningful, youre not just wasting peoples time, and people are acting and interacting with us at the same time. Its just a fantastic experience. Interacting with viewers and inspiring them to think about things in new ways was part of her dream for her network, which launched in January. Though it drew low ratings initially, Winfrey said she feels good about OWNs future.
Im going to build on the success of the connection to the Web response and to Lifeclass, she said, so Im really excited about it.