Oprah Winfrey apologizes for a Tweet encouraging Nielson viewers to tune into OWN

Oprah Winfrey has apologized for a message she wrote on Twitter, which encouraged people with a Nielsen rating box to watch her cable channel.

"Every 1 who can please turn to OWN especially if u have a Neilsen box," The New York Times quoted Oprah's Tweet that was published just as her new interview show Oprah's Next Chapter began on Sunday.

This was seen as a violation of the policy at Nielsen, which measures the television viewership based on a sample of about 25,000 households throughout the United States.

Nielsen does its best to make sure the sample isn't coerced to tune into any show or channel.

Winfrey deleted the tweet and then apologized, reports the Daily News.

"I removed the tweet at the request of Nielsen. I intended no harm and apologize for the reference," she wrote.

Nielsen ratings set the advertising rates, in addition to determining if a show fails or succeeds.

Winfrey has 9 million Twitter followers, making it possible for her tweet to make an impact in the ratings.

She has previously posted on her Twitter reminding viewers to tune into OWN, but has not directed her request towards Nielsen households.

Some have said that this was a desperate attempt by Winfrey. She fired off replies to Tweets criticizing her.

"The word ‘please’ is used as courtesy not a beg … ‘desperate’ not ever a part of my vocab..." she responded according to Entertainment Weekly.

The New York Times was told by a Nielsen represenative that an asterisk will appear next to OWN's ratings.

The network's low ratings have disappointed Winfrey, drawing only an average of 900,000 viewers.