hgtv trends

Gavin Smith

Trends of Television networks

 

It’s funny to look at a television networks line-up like ESPN, MTV, or HGTV and see how they try to appeal to a certain demographic by the trends that they follow. ESPN is geared toward men by showing sports shows all day. MTV is geared more towards teens and people into pop culture. They have many shows that have people living a “normal” life by day but by night are out partying and having fun. HGTV is geared towards home owners and people that like to do home improvements. When looking at HGTVs line-up of shows it’s easy to pick out their trends and to see who they are trying to appeal to. Even though HGTV stands for home and garden TV (So obviously they are going to have shows about the home and garden) it’s fun to look at how they try to appeal to both men and women in their line-up of home improvement and home searching shows. Kevin Downey from Media Life Magazine says that “the network's target audience target audience is adults 25-54, with an emphasis on women in daytime. But media buyers know better. With a median age of 53 years and with women accounting for more than 70 percent of HGTV’s audience, the network’s target – for the moment – is more accurately women 35-6”. Even with that said I feel HGTV does a decent job of appealing to both men and women by having a mixture of home improvement shows like; Property Brothers, While You Were Out, Love It Or List It, Brother vs. Brother, and Cousins Undercover.  I feel these shows try to appeal to men by showing how all the home improvements are done throughout the show. I feel they also appeal to women by showing the decorative touches they have added to the house. HGTV also has home searching shows like; House Hunters, House Hunters International, and Love It or List It also fits into this category. I feel these shows appeal more to female viewers because they are more about showing beautiful homes that move-in ready. Most of the shows have men host which is another way that this network tries to appeal to women.

There are basically two different types of home improvement show on HGTV network. There is the surprise improvement, where they send families out of the house for the day or just a few hours and remodel a room in their house (usually the kitchen or family room). These shows include Cousins Undercover, While You Were Out, and Love It or List It (which is a little different because the family knows they are getting a room or rooms remodeled, they just don’t know what it will look like in the end). The second type of home improvement shows that air on the network are shows like Property Brothers and Brother vs. Brother. These shows let the home owners pick between a few different designs that they have made for their homes. The home improvement shows on the network appeal to people that already own homes. They appeal to home owner because they give the home owners ideas on how they can improve their home and make it a place they can love even more. These shows also try to draw in the male viewer by showing each step in the process of the remodel, from tearing down the walls to putting the last light bulb in the new light fixture. Janine Hummel had this to say on her blog “HGTV decided to reach out to the straight male population, and to women who were tired of watching (pining over) gay men. Some of their hosts are straight men, which was a hard thing to find on the network.  These guys are appealing to women who like looking at men.

We all do, ya know.

And they're appealing to men who can learn about working on their homes, without flagrant effeminate behavior”. HGTV is already known as a more feminine network but the improvement shows try to engage the women by showing the host picking out little details that are going to go into the home. For instance the color of the paint, the wall paper, the backsplash tiles in the kitchen, or the type of light fixtures. Another way the shows try to appeal to women is through the host. In many of the shows the host is an attractive male, they try to give the women a little eye candy (like Janine alluded to), to go along with the shows home and garden content.

Another trend on the HGTV network is home searching shows. These shows include House Hunters, House Hunters International, and Love It or List It (which combines home improvement with house searching). In these shows families are ready to move into a new house. The show follows the families around town or around the world (House Hunters International) as they search for a new home. They go through the houses and pick out stuff they like or don’t like about them and at the end of the show choose a house to move to. These shows appeal to people looking to buy a home or first time home owners. The show appeals to these people by showing what’s out there and what they can expect to pay for a type of home they may be interested in buying. These shows are also directed more towards woman as opposed to the home improvement which try to target men. They show homes that are already finished and beautiful. In Mimi Whites article, she list things women are most interested in when looking for a home, things like “space for sewing, scrapbooking, or other hobbies, laundry facilities are of great interest to women. Although realtors show laundry facilities to all house hunters, women are far more likely than men to raise it as an issue and are more interested in the specifics: Bathtubs are for women; showers are for men. Women love having double sinks in the master bathroom. Also like counter and storage space for their toiletries and beauty products”.  These match the things that are shown in the House Hunters shows In the House Hunters International they travel to the most beautiful parts of the world and often show views of the environment outside of the house to get more of a feminine feel for the show.

As I pointed out there are a couple trends on HGTVs network, and the network tries to appeal to both men and women in different ways. They try to use their home improvement shows to appeal more to men while still appealing to women. They use their house searching shows to appeal more to the women audience. I have only picked out a couple trends on the network but I’m sure someone could find many more.