HGTV is emphatic about one thing going into its upfront presentation next week: It’s the same home-design network it has always been, only different.
   The network is tweaking its lineup to balance out its older-skewing female audience with younger viewers and men. It aims to do that with series like the rookie “Designer Finals,” which focuses on interior design students reworking homes, and this fall’s “My First Place,” which centers on twentysomethings making the leap from mom and dad’s house to their own pad.
  “We’re evolving the brand into a lifestyle network centered on the home,” says Michael Dingley, senior vice president of programming at HGTV.
   “In the past, we primarily targeted homeowners and how-to individuals. We want to make sure we stay true to our core audience but at the same time we want to broaden out to the viewer who in the past has said, ‘HGTV is a good network but it’s not my cup of tea.’”

The network's identity
   Although it still trails the “Trading Spaces"-fueled TLC in the ratings and gets only a fraction of the viewers of ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” the 10-year-old HGTV is synonymous with home improvement shows.
   Which is both a good thing and a bad thing.
   On the positive side, hardcore viewers have little to fear about HGTV morphing into a reality-heavy general interest network. Its focus is and will remain home design. That consistency has meant its ratings have also been fairly consistent, and media buyers certainly know the audience their clients will reach.
   But HGTV’s consistency has also made it a bit dull. More troubling, HGTV’s audience has a median age of 53 years, which makes 18-49-centric advertisers uneasy.
  “It’s better to go young than go old,” says Jordan Breslow, director of broadcast research at MediaCom. “They don’t want to alienate anyone in their core demographic. But if they can somehow attract college students, they will get them before they are brand loyal. It’s the same thing with marketing a product.”

The network's target audience
   HGTV’s stated 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 35-64.

The network's ratings
   In fourth quarter, HGTV’s primetime audience in the 25-54 demo was down 9 percent on a year-to-year basis. Its total-day audience in the same demographic was essentially flat at down 2 percent.
   “Down is a problem; flat isn’t a problem,” says Breslow. “Some of that has to do with them reaching a plateau as far as subscriptions go. A lot of the smaller networks are gaining in ratings mostly due to increasing subscriptions. But if a network stabilizes I don’t look at that as a bad thing.”

The network's competitive set
   TLC still remains HGTV’s main competitor, even while losing so much of its footing this year, with its primetime audience falling 39 percent in fourth quarter alone. 
   HGTV also competes with Discovery, particularly in daytime, Hallmark Channel, SoapNet, and its sister Scripps networks Food Network and, to a lesser degree, Fine Living and DIY.

What’s new for 2005/06
   With good word-of-mouth for programs like “Designer Finals,” HGTV will continue to focus on shaking its stodgy image. As it will point out to media buyers at its upfront next week, this network is now about becoming more hip.
   “It was one thing in the past for us to show people how to make their home environments better in an artificial situation, meaning in a studio-based environment or with an expert,” says Dingley. “But once we started to take real people with real situations and provide real solutions, viewers responded to it because they could relate to people like themselves.”

The network's upfront outlook
   HGTV will play down its old-skewing audience and highlight its strengths this upfront. The network delivers a consistent audience; it’s working to bring down its median age; and it offers cross-platform deals through its parent company, Scripps, which also owns Food Network, two dozen newspapers, TV stations, and online sites such as the new HGTVpro.com.

The final prognosis
   On a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being excellent: 3.
   HGTV lacks momentum, which media buyers look for in a network. Its ratings are flat, and with 88 million homes already subscribing, HGTV isn’t going to get much bigger. Its only shot at a rating upswing is to roll out a hit or two.
  But the network also has many things going for it.
  HGTV has a well-known brand name and a multimedia parent company. More important, HGTV is aware of its weaknesses and is rolling out programs that address them.
   Provided it can convince buyers its median age will come down, the network will likely start adding to its base of advertisers. And if one of its new shows becomes the next “Trading Spaces,” well, so much the better.