Published: Sunday, May 29, 2011
Show's over, but Oprah still wields influence on business world
Oprah Winfrey's impact on your finances won't end with her show.
During its 25 years on the air, "The Oprah Winfrey Show" held enormous sway over how its audience chose to spend and save.
When Winfrey featured a charity on her show, for example, viewers reached for their wallets. On the spending front, her stamp of approval could turn a little-known product into an instant craze. Her power over book sales is legendary.
"Nobody else has that kind of influence," says Susan Harrow, a media coach and author of a guide on how to land an appearance on the "Oprah" show.
Winfrey plans to focus her energies on the fledgling television network and on "O, The Oprah Magazine," which remains a top seller.
Here are four ways Winfrey will continue to affect the nation's finances:
Money matters
Regular viewers tuned in for guidance on the issues they struggle with day to day, says financial guru Suze Orman.
"They are watching 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' not to be entertained, but to be transformed," she says.
Orman, who was launched by Oprah, will get her own prime-time show on OWN this fall.
Charitable giving
Helping others was a recurring theme on the "Oprah" show. Winfrey's public charity, Oprah's Angel Network, evolved from an episode in 1997 in which she called on viewers to use their lives to give back. The charity went on to raise in excess of $80 million.
The "Oprah" show also helped launch numerous projects.
Take the Pajama Program, a New York City charity that provides new pajamas and books to children in need. Before a taping in April 2007, members of the studio audience were asked to collect donations as a surprise for the group's founder. The audience drummed up 33,000 pairs of pajamas.
The Pajama Program is still thriving. "She not only gave us a bump," Genevieve Piturro, the group's founder says, "she gave us legs."
Spending decisions
When Winfrey crows over a product, her audience takes note. "In the best-case scenario, it can put people on the map," says Harrow.
Spanx is one of the better-known examples. The body-slimming undergarments became a household name after they were featured on "Oprah's Favorite Things" list in 2000. The company, which operated out of the owner's apartment at the time, sold more than 50,000 products in the next three months.
Book sales
Since the debut of Oprah's Book Club in 1996, Winfrey has become a reliable hitmaker in publishing.
Nielsen BookScan said last week that Winfrey's choice of Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth" in 2008 topped the list of biggest sellers among her book club selections in the past decade, with around 3.4 million copies.
The selection of James Frey's notorious "A Million Little Pieces" resulted with just under 2.7 million copies sold. Elie Wiesel's classic Holocaust memoir "Night" sold about 2 million after being selected.
During its 25 years on the air, "The Oprah Winfrey Show" held enormous sway over how its audience chose to spend and save.
When Winfrey featured a charity on her show, for example, viewers reached for their wallets. On the spending front, her stamp of approval could turn a little-known product into an instant craze. Her power over book sales is legendary.
"Nobody else has that kind of influence," says Susan Harrow, a media coach and author of a guide on how to land an appearance on the "Oprah" show.
Winfrey plans to focus her energies on the fledgling television network and on "O, The Oprah Magazine," which remains a top seller.
Here are four ways Winfrey will continue to affect the nation's finances:
Money matters
Regular viewers tuned in for guidance on the issues they struggle with day to day, says financial guru Suze Orman.
"They are watching 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' not to be entertained, but to be transformed," she says.
Orman, who was launched by Oprah, will get her own prime-time show on OWN this fall.
Charitable giving
Helping others was a recurring theme on the "Oprah" show. Winfrey's public charity, Oprah's Angel Network, evolved from an episode in 1997 in which she called on viewers to use their lives to give back. The charity went on to raise in excess of $80 million.
The "Oprah" show also helped launch numerous projects.
Take the Pajama Program, a New York City charity that provides new pajamas and books to children in need. Before a taping in April 2007, members of the studio audience were asked to collect donations as a surprise for the group's founder. The audience drummed up 33,000 pairs of pajamas.
The Pajama Program is still thriving. "She not only gave us a bump," Genevieve Piturro, the group's founder says, "she gave us legs."
Spending decisions
When Winfrey crows over a product, her audience takes note. "In the best-case scenario, it can put people on the map," says Harrow.
Spanx is one of the better-known examples. The body-slimming undergarments became a household name after they were featured on "Oprah's Favorite Things" list in 2000. The company, which operated out of the owner's apartment at the time, sold more than 50,000 products in the next three months.
Book sales
Since the debut of Oprah's Book Club in 1996, Winfrey has become a reliable hitmaker in publishing.
Nielsen BookScan said last week that Winfrey's choice of Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth" in 2008 topped the list of biggest sellers among her book club selections in the past decade, with around 3.4 million copies.
The selection of James Frey's notorious "A Million Little Pieces" resulted with just under 2.7 million copies sold. Elie Wiesel's classic Holocaust memoir "Night" sold about 2 million after being selected.
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