Even people who don’t closely follow every move of Britain’s royal family we’re obviously riveted to Oprah Winfrey’s explosive interview with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex on Sunday night.
According to Nielsen, the two-hour CBS special, “Oprah With Meghan and Harry,” delivered 17.1 million viewers. That’s the largest primetime audience for any entertainment special during the current 2020-2021 season.
It was also the largest primetime audience for any entertainment special since the Academy Awards on Feb. 9, 2020.
In social media, the interview drove 12 billion potential impressions, according to CBS. In the week leading up to the event, it drove 28.3 billion potential impressions. The special dominated the night — with the word Meghan trending within the top 10 in the U.S. for 12 hours and peaking at No. 1. #OprahMeghanHarry, Archie, Kate, Charles, Diana, William and Royal all trended within the top 10 last night as well.
It was also CBS’ most-live-streamed event outside of the NFL and Super Bowl Sunday this season.
In the interview, Prince Harry and Markle claimed that unnamed members of the royal family had discussion about “how dark” their baby’s skin tone would be. Also, Harry revealed that the rift between he and his father, Prince Charles, became so wide that the elder royal at one point “stopped taking my calls.” And Markle said that she felt so alone and confined in Buckingham Palace that she “just didn’t want to be alive anymore.”
The special is available to stream for free, on demand, on the CBS App and CBS.com.
