Oprah Winfrey has never been someone who does things small (and she’s got the billions to prove it).
At 72, the woman who turned a local Chicago talk show into a global cultural institution has signed a new multiyear deal with Amazon. Her production company, Harpo Entertainment, announced Monday that it has entered into an exclusive agreement with Wondery, Amazon’s podcast network, giving the company rights to distribute and sell advertising for The Oprah Podcast in both audio and video formats.
Beyond the podcast itself, Amazon also picked up rights to Oprah’s Book Club and Oprah’s Favorite Things, two franchises that have moved markets and shaped reading lists for decades. The deal further brings in the full back catalog of The Oprah Winfrey Show, all 25 seasons. The talk show ran from 1986 to 2011, and Amazon has not yet said how those episodes will surface on its services. For anyone who grew up with that show, the question of where and when is probably already on their mind.
“Hosting this podcast allows me to continue the work I feel called to do,” she said in a statement, describing it as a space for conversations that open doors. She spoke too about the reach this deal gives her, and the chance to find audiences she hasn’t had before.
Starting this summer the podcast moves to two episodes a week, and when July arrives, Wondery takes over distribution across Amazon’s platforms. Anyone who has been listening on YouTube or through another service can keep doing exactly that. Harpo Entertainment negotiated the deal through CAA and law firm Loeb & Loeb. Financial terms were not made public.
Winfrey launched the podcast in December 2024, building it around conversations with authors, newsmakers and public figures, as well as people outside the spotlight, with many episodes taped before studio audiences. Guests have ranged from Serena Williams and Misty Copeland to Jeremy Allen White and Kate Hudson. Book Club episodes, where Winfrey sits down with authors in front of a live crowd, are woven into the podcast’s run as well.
Winfrey joins a Wondery roster that already includes Keke Palmer and LeBron James, though the scale of what she brings into this deal sets it apart from anything else on that list. It is thee Oprah Winfrey after all: Decades of television, a network, two franchises and an audience that has followed her across every format she has ever tried.
At its core, this deal pulls Oprah’s biggest platforms under one roof. She has done it before and that B in billionaire is all the proof anyone needs.
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