HGTV Has Designs on Contests

Real Estate Fare Holding Up Despite Slump in Housing

By Jon Lafayette

When the economy turns bad, what’s a lifestyle network supposed to do?

The new management at HGTV is planning to add more reality to its real estate shows and make its design shows more competitive.

“One of the first things that we wanted to do right was to step up the amount of design competition on the air,” said Jim Samples, who was named president of HGTV last year. “We had such good success with ‘Design Star,’ but it really was the only design competition show.”

Mr. Samples said one of his first actions was to move forward with “Summer Showdown,” a series that pits the network’s top designers against one another. “We’re happy with the way that went and so we commissioned more of those,” he said.

But while the network wants to do more design shows, it also has ordered four more of the real estate shows that account for a good part of its schedule.

Despite the housing market crash, HGTV has held up, in terms of both ratings and revenues.
Response to Recession

“Surprisingly, HGTV has not been hit harder than other cable networks,” said Derek Baine, analyst with SNL Kagan. “They said they have shifted the programming to respond to the recession.”

“I think that they’re reading the market correctly,” said Tom Weeks, senior VP at media buyer Starcom. “They’re being true not only to their brand but to what the everyday consumer or viewer is experiencing .”

Kagan projects that HGTV, the No. 15 ad-supported cable network in prime time, will generate $605 million in ad revenues in 2008, up from $555.8 million in 2007. With the recession hitting harder next year, Kagan expects HGTV’s ad sales to be flat to slightly down in 2009.

In its real estate shows, “We’re going to be presenting [even more of a] slice of life in terms of adapting to what’s happening with the current financial times,” said Freddy James, who was named senior VP of program development and production in October.

The new shows, launching Jan. 1, are “The Unsellables,” “Desperate to Buy,” “Income Property” and “The Property Shop.

Also in the works is a limited series called “The Big Payoff.” The winner of that show gets his or her mortgage paid off.