Lifestyle? Guess You Can Call It That...
By Ashley Powell
What’s harder than buying a new house, renovating a kitchen on a tight budget or cooking steak at the perfect temperature? Apparently, it’s defining ‘lifestyle programming.’ The term is changing shape faster than a house on “Extreme Makeover,” and its slippery nature is clear evidence of the category’s dynamism. Once exclusively used in reference to cooking shows, fashion spots and visual travel guides, lifestyle has now become the Swiss Army knife of the programming world as scripted series gain glory by the season.
And while the lifestyle category is increasingly nuanced and certainly not for everyone (A&E is phasing out its Saturday morning lifestyle block, and Turner nixed digital lifestyle platform Upwave in May), it could hold huge potential for adaptation in the face of industry change, with many cable nets experimenting with how to use it to their best advantage. Among them CNN, TLC and Animal Planet, 3 nets that are remodeling the conventional understanding of the category to fit their specific brands. But for others like Scripps Networks Interactive, new kid Esquire Network and Hallmark Channel, classic lifestyle programming suits their audiences best.
What’s so great about lifestyle? A lot, apparently. As HGTV’s 20th anniversary approaches in Dec, parent net and lifestyle leader Scripps doesn’t feel pressure to do anything else. “What it goes back to for us is relatability,” said Scripps pres Burton Jablin. “Our subjects within lifestyle are ones that are very, very personal. Lifestyle and our version of it in particular will remain popular because of that. We’re always going to
be what we are. It’s not what we do.”
Scripps has built an entire business around lifestyle content, breaking the wide range of topics into 6 cable channels: HGTV, DIY Network, Food Network, Cooking Channel, Travel Channel and Great American Country. The company’s big programming mission is “to provide information, ideas and inspiration on home and garden topics in a way that enhances the lives of our viewers and respects their intelligence.” This boils down to what Scripps execs call “the three i’s”— information, ideas and inspiration.
When considering a new program, Jablin said Scripps is a stickler for authenticity, positivity and relatability. If a show is headed for HGTV or DIY, it
must have more than just a little to do with home and landscape. Vying for Travel Channel? The central theme should focus on getting to know people, places and cultures around the world.The audience must relate to the content, and the hosts must seem like familiar, approachable characters who really know their stuff. Most importantly, though, the show requires an “upbeat, optimistic view of the world,” because according to Jablin, that’s what sets Scripps’ lifestyle brand apart from others dabbling in the space. “We stay true to our subject matter—the audience knows what they’re
going to get,” said Jablin. “They’re going to be delighted and entertained and inspired by our content, and it’s going to be within a very clear range at any of our networks.”
The company’s lifestyle content also exists off linear in a variety of forms. In addition to a long list of consumer products inspired by their network brands (including Food Network kitchenware, Hearst-backed print publications and a line of Sherwin-Williams paints for HGTV) Scripps launched digital content platform, uLive, as a means of distributing video content and increasing reach. “The primary aim of uLive is to reach consumers where they are,” said Jablin. “We’re using digital to focus on our key job, which is to get more people to watch our video more often.” It seems to be paying off: more than 170mln people interact with Scripps’ brands online each month, a stat that speaks to the engaging nature of lifestyle content and the consumption habits of viewers who continue to “do what they view.” To that end, Scripps is betting on TV Everywhere playing a much bigger role in the near future as the company explores ways to create more customizable consumption experiences.
In contrast, Hallmark Channel attacks lifestyle programming by investing heavily in a single show. Emmy-nominated, 2-hour daytime talk show “Home & Family” airs 44 weeks a year, with Crown Media Family Nets pres/CEO Bill Abbott predicting even more growth in the coming year. “We’ve taken the approach that Home & Family is a destination in and of itself within our channel,” he said. “For us, in a crowded landscape, establishing those points of British Columbia, difference is a winning formula. I wouldn’t think we would change strategy.”
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