A+E Networks' quest to construct a durable multi-platform brand inside the lifestyle genre has further expanded. What was Home.Made last March -- occupying three hours of Saturday-morning real estate on A&E and six hours Monday evenings on FYI -- has blossomed into Home.Made.Nation. It's grown from a programming block to a multiplatform brand to satisfy the needs of today's consumers.
But wait. There's more!
By the end of 2022, Home.Made.Nation is expected to increase its weekend A&E placement to six hours each Saturday and Sunday (7 a.m. to 1 p.m.); while maintaining its FYI Monday prime presence and ramping up distribution of social and digital content. "With a distinct audience and a distinct identity, this is a unique opportunity to expand and elevate this lifestyle brand across a plethora of touchpoints," says Mike Buccella, A+E Networks' Vice President of Ad Sales Enthusiast Brands.
Boosting this expansion effort will be 200+ hours of new long- and short-form content with a focus on home design, home renovation/flipping, and now, food topics. At least 85 hours of this output will premiere over the remainder of 2022, with the rest coming to viewers in 2023.
"With our early success we have the support of the entire company, and this investment means more original series, new talent relationships, customized marketing strategies and a dynamic scheduling approach," says Christian Murphy, Head of Enthusiast Brands.
One way Home.Made.Nation differentiates itself from other services in the field is a scattering of mini-features emphasizing takeaways the audience can apply to their home repair or meal preparation habits. "We use our curated short-form to keep the content fresh and keep viewers engaged within the Home.Made.Nation ecosystem," Buccella explains. "It delivers the payback our viewers crave. They want to learn or to get a tip or a trick."
Another is long-form storytelling that, in the months ahead, will expand the menu. "We're digging into those unique, first-person experiences and working with big talent, but they're also attainable and accessible," says Brad Holcman, Senior Director of Unscripted, Development and Production.
Celebrity chef Rachael Ray has two series where food is only a background topic. One is Italian Dream Home, in which Ray and husband John launch ownership and renovation of a villa in Tuscany. Then there's the forthcoming Renovation Rescue (working title), which will follow Ray's work with families across the U.S. whose homes and possessions were destroyed by fire and natural disasters.
Former National Football League players Geoff and Mitchell Schwartz also will do some crisscrossing countrywide for Food Fight, a series that finds two top restaurants in a specific city putting their best meals forward in a feud-style competition. Several current series, including 50/50 Flip and Zombie House Flipping (pictured at top) will serve up new episodes. "We are also proud of the fact that we have a ton of diversity, in front of and behind the camera with Home.Made.Nation," Buccella says. "It's important that this brand reflects the world as it is."
According to Buccella, initial advertiser reaction to Home.Made.Nation's expanded hours and original content has been well-received. He expects a wide variety of sponsors from categories not usually associated with lifestyle or enthusiast TV, such as pharmaceutical, technology and financial services. He's also excited about advertisers that have expressed interest in using the expanded programming to test new interactive and shoppable approaches, where viewers can use their smart TV sets and devices to order merchandise.
At the moment, some of the content runs on Lively Place, one of several A+E Networks-managed FAST channels.
"It's definitely an opportunity. It's the way we're looking to go," Buccella notes. "The important thing now is building a brand; then we'll continue to increase those consumer touchpoints."
When MediaVillage first covered this undertaking a year ago, A+E Networks suggested Home.Made's multi-year expansion strategy could be a template for other enthusiast blocks across the company's channel lineups.
The HISTORY Channel currently supports a trio of enthusiast blocks -- Outdoor (outdoor lifestyle), Drive (automobile topics) and Hero (achievements of military and first responder representatives).
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