Oprah Winfrey connected over 17 million viewers last night

It was enough to take a look at social media last night to anticipate that famed communicator Oprah Winfrey will dominate the U.S. audience with the two-hour special she presented, in which Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan made strong statements about their experiences with the life of royalty.

According to a Los Angeles Times publication, the special called “Oprah with Megan and Harry” reached 17.1 million viewers from one coast to another in the United States, through the CBS network. It was a production that, according to the newspaper, cost the television company $ 7 million in exclusive rights and for which commercial costs amounted to $ 350,000 for every 30 seconds.

This audience coverage is seen as impressive for this time when television is competing with multiple digital platforms and there is a large generation that prefers to access the internet to access related content immediately.

Compared to other audience recordings, the interview that will be seen tonight in England did not exceed the one that Winfrey gave with the king of pop, Michael Jackson, in February 1993, when he gathered 62 million viewers. Until then, national television competed only with cable systems.

However, last night’s special was led by journalist Diane Sawyer exclusively with former Olympic champion Caitlyn Jenner to change her life as a woman. The April 2015 interview was watched by 16.9 million people on ABC.