What do all these people have in common?
They’ve all been been touched by The Oprah Effect.
The Oprah effect is the benefit you get when Oprah decides to endorse your product.
Oh that's good!
Even Barack Obama is said to have won both his presidential bids with the help of
Oprah’s blessing.
There are some people here that are here to see Oprah.
But of all the celebrities who’ve appeared on her show, who out there is the greatest
beneficiary of the Oprah Effect?
Oh it's definitely Oprah herself!
She's got a fortune of three point four billion, that makes her one of the richest people in the world.
She's been referred to as one of the most powerful people in the world
which I think is maybe a little hyperbole.
I'm not so sure, I mean seriously, who else has the power to do this?
Everybody gets a car!
This is the story of Oprah and her effect on the world.
You know why I loved you so much because you always let me lead devotion.
From shedding nostalgic tears over her 4th grade teacher, to sobs from unthinkable tragedies-
tears were the unmistakable trademark of the Oprah Winfrey Show.
Oprah really stood out pretty much from the start of her career was this idea of authenticity.
I try not to go into the ugly cry, stopi it!
When did you first realize you had this power just
to make people cry?
Once on my show a father said very father hasa dream for his children.
Oh shut up!
But this trademark was not something she stumbled upon by accident; it’s ingrained into the
fabric of her soul from a tough childhood.
Oprah is probably the classic rags to riches story.
she was born really in extreme poverty in Mississippi.
She grew up wearing dresses made out of potato sacks.
What she did was she really embraced that.
She used her own experiences to really empathize with her listeners, first on the radio then television.
It was In 1983 when Oprah was given the task of hosting a low-rated half-hour morning talk
show, AM Chicago.
Within months the show went from last place in the ratings to overtaking Phil Donahue as the
highest-rated talk show in Chicago- making her an instant local celebrity.
And just two years later in 1985 she was so famous that she found herself acting in a Spielberg movie.
By 1986 Oprah was already broadcast nationally and the rest is history.
By the mid 90s Oprah was a multi millionaire.
She had moved her show away from a tabloid news shows, taking on harder subjects like
social justice, disease, geopolitics, spirituality, anorexia.
No topic was off limits.
The tears kept flowing.
And her audience continued to grow, as did The Oprah Effect.
Deep End of the Ocean ya'll are gonna have to buy it.
She might recommend a book or she might draw attention to a particular endeavor that has
an enormous impact.
In 1996 Winfrey started an on-air reading club, making her the most powerful book marketer
in the world.
Her endorsements made the careers of countless young authors, not to mention herself.
She is the author of 10 books and counting ranging from autobiography to weight loss to self help.
Oprah maintained creative control over her show until the last episode in 2008.
From there she took an even larger leap into show business by launching her own TV station.
Basically that's got a valuation of close to a billion dollars.
She's actually only got a minority stake in that company, but that minority stake still
has a carrying value of about 300 million dollars.
For something that grew completely out of the strength of sort of her rapport with the American people.
Her most recent fortune spurned from her partnership with Weight Watchers, a deal that began in
2015 with 10% ownership equalling about $43M, but since then her stake has ballooned to
$450M and Weight Watchers has more than doubled its stock price.
That started a major comeback for what was at the time a struggling diet brand.
OK OK we get it- Oprah is an institution.
What else can she possibly do?
Well, aside from making a recent open ended billion dollar content deal with Apple, Oprah
is clearly intent on using her power to change the world for the better.
Oprah is also very active philanthropically, so she donated millions to the Smithsonian's
National Museum of African-American History and Culture.
She's given a million dollars for the Green Belt Movement for sort of tree planting and
Community Development in Africa.
Her girl’s school in South Africa has been highly publicized and her Angel Network has
raised more than $80,000,000.
In total Oprah has given away over $400M over her own money to charity.
And now the time may have finally come to start kissing babies as many are wondering if
the Oprah Effect will take her straight to the white house in 2020.
We already have a reality TV show President in the White House and there's plenty of people who would back her run.
And I thought oh gee I don't have the experience, I don't know enough.
And now I'm thinking Oh!
But you have to wonder about what that would mean for her brand- obviously politics are
very divisive in this country and you’re talking about someone who’s really loved
across the spectrum.
So a move into politics suddenly kind of thrusts her into the some of the most controversial
issues of our day and I definitely don’t think that would be a good thing for her brand.
But Oprah’s story is a series of unlikely firsts, so there’s really no telling how
far her own effect will take one of the richest and most powerful women in the world.