Harry and Meghan's bombshell Oprah interview draws over 17 million viewers

The ratings for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey have arrived, and they're royally impressive.

CBS said Monday an average of 17.1 million people tuned into Winfrey's jaw-dropping interview with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in the U.S. on Sunday night, CNN reports. That's over twice as big of an audience as last Sunday's Golden Globes Awards, which drew a disappointing 6.9 million viewers.

In fact, Deadline notes that more people watched Harry and Meghan's interview than watched the most recent Golden Globes and Emmys combined, and the interview attracted the "largest non-sports audience of the 2020-2021 TV season so far." This was also the "largest primetime audience for any entertainment special since" last year's Academy Awards, according to Entertainment Weekly.

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The Oscars in February 2020 drew 23.6 million viewers, the ceremony's smallest audience ever. Now, the question remains whether the upcoming Academy Awards in April will actually manage to attract a bigger audience than the Harry and Meghan's sit-down. Former Hollywood Reporter editorial director Matthew Belloni argued the awards show will probably fall short, writing, "Oprah likely just ensured the Oscars won't be the most-viewed entertainment program of 2021."