Meghan and Harry Oprah interview isn’t on Paramount Plus — and people are pissed

Meghan and Harry Oprah interview isn't on Paramount Plus — and people are pissed

(Image credit: CBS)

Meghan and Prince Harry's interview with Oprah Winfrey on Sunday dark dropped numerous bombshells about their split from the royal family. The CBS News special was a smash hit, pulling in 17.ane million viewers — more than double that of last week's Gilt Globes Awards — and generating a ton of churr on Twitter.

And the Meghan and Harry interview besides represented a tantalizing draw for Paramount Plus, the brand-new streaming service from ViacomCBS, which carried the interview through live local affiliate feeds. But the central give-and-take in that location is "live," considering every bit soon as the special finished airing on CBS, it disappeared from Paramount Plus.

I'm baffled by this mountain-sized missed opportunity — i that highlights the lackluster launch that we call out in our Paramount Plus review.

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Judging past Twitter, a lot of people signed up for a Paramount Plus free trial to watch the interview. Many didn't realize they could only sentinel it alive, when information technology aired from 8 to ten p.yard. ET, and that it wouldn't be available on need. Those disappointed users soon discovered the interview was nowhere to exist found on Paramount Plus. Searching for "Oprah" or "Meghan" yielded no results.

I literally downloaded paramount plus specifically because google said the Oprah interview would be on there and it'southward non 😭 how can I scout it? Was it just on live and then gone forever???March 8, 2021

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Instead, anyone who wanted to spotter the Meghan and Harry interview on-demand online hours later or the next day could go to CBS.com, where information technology'due south streaming completely free (with ads).

I find it seriously strange that CBS would accept such a valuable nugget and not use information technology to eternalize its streaming service launch. Information technology's like if Disney Plus launched with ane episode of The Mandalorian and removed it after a few hours.

imagine launching a streaming service, having a wildly popular interview that same week available simply through your streaming service, and then having the interview disappear from your platform entirely the second it'south done airingMarch viii, 2021

Obviously, there are rights issues at work in the deal that the network struck with Winfrey's Harpo Productions. According to The Wall Street Journal, CBS paid between $7 meg and $9 million to license the special. (Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were non paid for their appearance.) And advertisers paid a premium rate to air commercials during the circulate. Diverseness reported that Harpo retained the streaming rights to the special. Perchance the company plans to sell those elsewhere, like Netflix (where Harry and Meghan have a production deal).

Paramount Plus tin celebrate a tiny bit, since the promise of live-streaming the interview likely collection quite a few sign-ups. Simply that number could've been a lot bigger. Not everyone tin can watch an event live; Harry and Megan were even so trending on social media all forenoon. If only Paramount Plus could've taken reward of that.

Fifty-fifty if Paramount Plus couldn't go the streaming rights to the Meghan and Harry interview, it had time to prepare something for the inevitable wave of curious subscribers.

The craziest part of this whole monarchy situation is that I at present have a subscription to Paramount plusMarch 8, 2021

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Commission a quickie hour-long documentary about the couple or even license one of the terrible Harry and Meghan made-for-Television receiver movies. But accept something to get those free trial users interested in possibly staying. I don't think NCIS, Criminal Minds and Frasier are going to do the trick.

The interview isn't the but thing that's strangely absent from Paramount Plus. This weekend saw the premiere of Coming 2 America on Amazon Prime number Video. The sequel to Eddie Murphy's archetype comedy was produced by Paramount and sold to Amazon, after its initial Baronial theatrical release date was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Perhaps, at the time, ViacomCBS just wanted Amazon'south big bucks to recoup the toll of making the moving-picture show and Paramount Plus was still just a glimmer in an executive's middle.

But these head-scratching gaps prove a lack of forethought that's apparent in the streamer's debut last week. Paramount Plus rose from the ashes of CBS All Access with no blockbuster originals or franchise draws. They've appear a lot of projects, but the large titles on launch mean solar day were a SpongeBob SquarePants picture show and a Real World revival.

With so many streaming services in play now, a newcomer has to seize every run a risk it has to stand out. And Paramount Plus just whiffed.

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Kelly is a senior writer roofing streaming media for Tom's Guide, so basically, she watches TV for a living. Previously, she was a freelance entertainment writer for Yahoo, Vulture, Goggle box Guide and other outlets. When she's not watching TV and movies for work, she's watching them for fun, seeing live music, writing songs, knitting and gardening.