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Television networks continue to grapple with losing viewers to streaming services and cord-cutting tactics by consumers, but in a press release on January 5, 2023, Warner Bros. Discovery — the parent company of 30 networks including HGTV — gave an upbeat assessment of the past year, highlighting its top performers. HGTV held onto its ranking as TV’s most-watched non-news or sports cable network, thanks to a stable of hit shows, including top-rated “Rock the Block.”
How ‘Rock the Block’ Became HGTV’s Top Show of 2022
In its release, WBD said HGTV ranked throughout 2022 in the top 10 cable networks among all viewers ages 25 to 54 every night of the week in total day and primetime viewing. It also ranked in the top 5 of all cable networks among women ages 25 to 54 in total day and primetime.
The network’s highest-rated show of the year was the third season of “Rock the Block,” the competition show hosted by Ty Pennington that pits pairs of hosts against each other in design challenges across six weeks. The 2022 season, which aired from February 28 through April 4, featured four teams: Egypt Sherrod and Mike Jackson of “Married to Real Estate,” Leslie Davis and Lyndsay Lamb of “Unsellable Houses,” Dave and Jenny Marrs of “Fixer to Fabulous,” and Keith Bynum and Evan Thomas of “Bargain Block.”
Sherrod and Jackson won the 2022 competition, which attracted more than 14.3 million viewers throughout its run, according to HGTV, making it the show’s highest-rated season yet. A fourth season has already been filmed in Berthoud, Colorado, with four new pairs of hosts. It is scheduled to premiere in March.
Big Table Media, the production company behind “Rock the Block,” shared the good news on Instagram and also revealed that another show it produces, “Windy City Rehab” with Alison Victoria, was also among HGTV’s top-rated series for the year.
Victoria commented with applause emojis, Pennington posted a fire emoji, and “Luxe for Less” host Michel Boyd, who will appear on season 4 of “Rock the Block,” wrote, “*pumps fist in the air GO @bigtablemedia.”
WBD Reveals Other Top HGTV Shows of the Year
HGTVLisa Kudrow, along with Drew and Jonathan Scott, during season 3 of “Celebrity IOU”
In addition to celebrating the Number One success of “Rock the Block,” WBD revealed the other HGTV shows that topped the ratings in 2022 were “Celebrity IOU,” “Unsellable Houses,” “No Demo Reno,” “100 Day Dream Home,” “Bargain Block” and “Fixer to Fabulous.”
The release also listed “Home Town Takeover” as one of its top-rated shows, but that spin-off aired in 2021, so it’s possible WBD meant Ben and Erin Napier’s primary series “Home Town” was among its biggest hits, given that HGTV called it a ratings “juggernaut” in a November 2022 release.
In addition, HGTV had two freshman shows among the 30 most-watched unscripted new series on primetime cable in 2022: “Ugliest House in America” with Retta and Victoria, and “Fixer to Fabulous: Welcome Inn,” which means Dave and Jenny Marrs were part of three of HGTV’s top-rated shows.
Despite the good news about ratings, Forbes reported on January 3 that HGTV’s overall audience declined by 13% in 2022. While most cable networks have also been in decline due to consumers’ changing viewing habits and technologies, Forbes said only five ad supported networks managed to average over one million viewers over the course of the year — including HGTV, which had 1.08 million viewers on average.
In 2023, HGTV is under new leadership. Network president Jane Latman was ousted on December 9 in a company-wide layoff, and has been replaced by fellow network exec Loren Ruch.