Apple, Oprah Winfrey end content partnership

Oprah Winfrey’s big multi-year deal with Apple that she announced in 2018 is ending, and Apple isn’t renewing.
“The Oprah Conversation” is Oprah Winfrey’s latest series on Apple TV+, following “Oprah Talks COVID-19” and “Oprah’s Book Club.”
Matthew Belloni for Puck:

Apple confirmed the split to me but declined to comment, as did Winfrey’s rep.
The writing’s been on the wall for this one. If I asked you to name Oprah’s biggest moments over the past few years, you’d probably say the Harry and Meghan interview or the Adele special, both of which aired on CBS…
Apple TV+ programmers Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht probably would’ve loved the royals, and I’ve heard rumblings that they are disappointed with Oprah’s output for the streamer. But that’s the deal they made. And Apple at least got a perception boost out of signing Oprah back in 2018, when Netflix and Amazon both wanted her. She was key in vouching for the nascent Apple TV+ at that weird celebrity cattle call in Cupertino back in March 2019, months before the service launched. “They’re in a billion pockets, y’all. A billion pockets,” she said, instantly explaining why so many top artists would sign on to Apple sight unseen. That, and the fat checks Apple was writing.

MacDailyNews Take: Winfrey served her purpose for Apple: Attach a “name” for the Apple TV+ launch. The launch phase ended some time ago. (Apple did the same thing with Spielberg which ended up producing a whopping five hour-long episodes of the extremely-limited “Amazing Stories” reboot.) They sold Apple their brand names. They got paid. Apple got big names. Nobody who knew anything expected the next “E.T.” to debut on Apple TV+ at launch.
In 2019, Apple billed Apple TV+ as “home to the biggest directors and top stars”
Bottom line: If viewers watched any of Winfrey’s content (The Oprah Conversation, The Me You Can’t See) on Apple TV+ in significant enough numbers, the deal would not be ending.
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