Millions tune in to see Harry and Megan spill the royal tea

The Oprah interview with Harry Windsor and Megan Markle grabbed top spot in the US and Australia.

The Oprah interview with Harry Windsor and Megan Markle grabbed top spot in the US and Australia — more than 17 million in the US on Sunday night and almost 1.8 million in Australia on Monday night. (The UK data will be available on Wednesday.)

With the US television landscape fractured by streaming video, 17.1 million viewers was a huge figure. It was almost three times the 6.5 million people who watched the previous Sunday night’s programming on CBS. It also had more viewers than the most recent Emmys and Golden Globe broadcasts.
In Australia it averaged 1.78 million (and will top 1.8 million when viewing over the next seven days is added in). There were 1.36 million metro viewers and 417,000 in the regions. That made it the most-watched metro program and third most watched in the regions. CBS paid US$8 million for the interview (and in the US sold ads at a reported rate of US$325,000 a minute).

Ten is owned by CBS, so the money made here last night would have been money for jam. The interview was the highest audience for a Ten program for well over a year — The Masked Singer finale in September 2020 averaged 1.68 million while the lead up averaged 1.37 million.

Elsewhere yesterday, Four Corners’ “Canberra Bubble” follow up — 891,000, a top 10 with a solid 624,000 in metro markets. MAFS had 1.07 million for Nine, while Under Investigation hit 636,000 — a loss of 431,000 or close to 40% on last week’s debut of 1.06 million.

In the regions, it was Seven News, 557,000; Seven News 6.30, 528,000; Harry and Megan’s interview, 417,000; 7pm ABC News, 348,000; Home and Away, 337,000.

Network channel share: