Dr. Mehmet Oz has become a household name in modern day America, and has been called "one of the most accomplished cardiothoracic surgeons of his generation."
If you watch television, you've probably seen Dr. Oz on "Oprah" or on his own show, the "Dr. Oz Show."
But at our IGNITION conference today, Dr. Oz said that he never expected himself to wind up on television.
"I never thought I'd ever do anything outside of medicine," Dr. Oz said.
With the encouragement of his wife, who was tired of him complaining about how important health information isn't reaching the right audience, he started his own show on Discovery in 2003.
But he soon realized that people quickly lose interest in health-related topics.
The average rule of thumb about television is health content can only be about three minutes," Dr. Oz said. "After that the viewers get bored."
Flash forward to today, and his current talk show has better ratings than Ellen and has won two consecutive Daytime Emmy awards for Outstanding Informative Talk Show.
What Dr. Oz does to keep the audience's attention is make the content relatable. He also makes a point to talk about life, rather than medicine.
Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.
Join the conversation about this story »
