Has Stumping for Obama Hurt Oprah's Popularity?
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Updated: 3:32 PM May 28, 2008
Has Stumping for Obama Hurt Oprah's Popularity?
Oprah Winfrey is a household name. She's launched careers and helped sell products, but is the queen-of-all-media's crown starting to fade?
Posted: 12:01 PM May 28, 2008
Reporter: Kareen Wynter
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Oprah Winfrey is a household name.

She's launched careers and helped sell products, but is the queen-of-all-media's crown starting to fade?

"It's a wonder I got a roof!"

Oprah Winfrey has a roof, and a lot more.

The media queen's empire includes a talk show, radio program, magazine, Broadway musical and production company.

And Forbes Magazine says she's worth some $1.5-billion.

But, all is not perfect in Oprah-Land.

Ratings for her show are down seven percent, marking a third consecutive year in decline.

Her much-hyped prime-time reality show "Oprah's Big Give" lost a third of it's viewers by the end of its eight-week run.

"Oprah is down seven percent this year in total viewers, but guess what?" asked Andrew Wallenstein, Deputy Editor for The Hollywood Reporter.

"Just about everything in syndication is down."

But television ratings aren't the only problem.

According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, sales of Winfrey's "O" magazine have fallen by more than 240,000 copies in the last three years.

Insiders say Winfrey's latest move to the campaign trail could hurt business even more.

"I'm voting for Barack Obama because he's brilliant!" declared Winfrey.

"The moment you open your mouth and speak politically, you puncture the fantasy of a huge part of your audience and those people may never forgive you again," explained author and professor Steven Ross.

Professor Ross is writing a book about politics and Hollywood.

"There are moments in everyone's life when they say, you know what this may be a risky business move, but it's what I need to do as a citizen, I believe in this," said Winfrey.

Oprah's camp says those beliefs haven't caused business to suffer.

CBS Executive Robert Madden oversees the syndication of Winfrey's talk show.

He tells CNN, "it has been the number one talk show 471 consecutive weeks, obviously if you're number one, you're not in trouble."

And remember, this media titan has more than a billion in the bank and popularity to spare.



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