The interview was watched by 17 million people in the US, and cost CBS about $7 million, roughly a third of what it has earned from airing it. Meghan and Harry didn't get paid for it, but it will bring them benefits in the future.
Both the Dukes of Sussex and Oprah Winfrey herself warned from the beginning that Harry and Meghan had not received anything for the interview that has shaken the British Crown. It was, in part, a way to ensure that his statements were not initially motivated by economic interest. And they could.
They could have gotten at least a couple million dollars from the interview if they wanted to. Oprah approached various networks offering the show for between $7 million and $9 million, which is what CBS agreed to. Between 6 and 7.5 million euros.
A margin in which they could have put compensation for the Sussexes. But no, Oprah doesn't pay her interviewees to begin with, whether they're an English prince or the King of Pop, Michael Jackson. And the money from the format is not particularly relevant to her either: with everything she has earned with her eternal original talk show, the communicator has managed to diversify it into an investment portfolio that today is worth close to 1,900 million euros, to which must be added her recent million-dollar agreement with Apple.
Did CBS get paid for the deal? Yes. Even though Oprah's company kept almost all the international rights, the chain sold some 50 spots for ads at between 200,000 and 275,000 euros per block of 30 seconds.
Estimates from the interview (with 17 million viewers) are about 16-17 million euros in clean revenue. That is to say, CBS earned 10 million euros with the broadcast of the interview, only in the United States. In England, ITV calculates that it took more than a million euros with the broadcast.
For Harry and Meghan, the broadcast was priceless: Oprah is a guarantee of impartiality, even if she was invited to their wedding:
Thus, Oprah is one of the factors that explain why American public opinion has been overwhelmingly on the side of Meghan and Harry. In England, they are much less, although there is a fact that should worry the venerable institution: 48% of British young people between 18 and 24 years of age fully support the couple against the monarchy, according to YouGov surveys. This a sign that the institution and youth do not connect, precisely the role that Harry and Meghan had entrusted in their stage as active royals.
But the chance to express for two hours their vision of the gap between the royal house and the two lovers, in prime time, with America's favorite broadcaster, is something the couple could have paid for. The reputation they have earned is also perfect for their two main supporters: a deal with Spotify that unites the platform with the couple's label, Archewell Audio, valued at around 21 million euros; and another with Netflix for five years that would amount to 84 million euros.
That is to say: 105 million euros based on his media charisma. That a single interview has shown that they are paid in a few hours.
For the couple, these agreements – "the only option" they had after "my family suddenly stopped financing us", as Harry explained – guarantee them a better life than what they had as members of royalty: their income as active royals was estimated at six million euros per year, distributed between the Duchy of Cornwall, the origin of Prince Charles's fortune, and the Sovereign Fund, paid with public money.
Harry and Meghan made it clear that they had no choice but to sign those deals because Diana's estate and Markle's savings (as an actress and as a respected cosmetics and fashion influencer, who we sometimes forget ran a page called The Tig and a couple of fashion lines, a stone's throw from the successful screen-to-lifestyle leaps of Jessica Alba or Gwyneth Paltrow) were running out. Above all, after returning the money for the reforms of Frogmore House, his residence in the United Kingdom, and paying the entrance fee for his mansion in Montecito.
But the same: both agreements were signed months ago before the last chapter of the Megxit (the refusal of the queen, Carlos, and Guillermo that Harry could be royal part-time) pushed them to seek this interview. Without that bitter conclusion a few weeks ago, Harry and Meghan would not have shown, for free, just how lucrative and influential they can be for any screen or medium. More than his own family considered, looking at the figures.
