HGTV has emerged as one of the most-watched networks among viewers obeying stay-at-home orders during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Discovery-owned channel has parlayed its popular original content, geared toward home renovation and house-flipping, to become the most-watched entertainment network in primetime for March. It averaged 1.1 million viewers, behind only Fox News Channel, MSNBC and CNN, according to Nielsen.

HGTV president Jane Latman spoke with Multichannel News about HGTV’s ratings success during the pandemic and its long-term programming strategy. Here’s an edited transcript of the interview.

MCN: What has been the secret behind HGTV’s ratings success?

Jane Latman: People are watching more HGTV because it’s a very comforting brand and a great place to go. For people who are home, it's actually very relevant. In March, we created a spot with our talent who were all at home, and we were shouting out to the audience that we’re all in this together.

MCN: Has the network exhausted most of its new episodes in the wake of the coronavirus production shutdown?

JL: We haven’t exhausted it at all. There’s all the stuff that we have in post-production that will still be coming in, and we have some shows that we were able to finish through self-shooting. Shows such as Home Town, Unsellable Houses, Property Brothers Forever Home, Flipping 101 and Celebrity IOU are all still in premieres. We are pretty well-positioned, but now we’re planning for when the gap in production comes down the road. We’re repackaging our shows in a number of ways. For example, we have Jonathan and Drew [Scott] watching the first couple of seasons of their [Property Brothers] show, and have them talk about how the designs have changed and how their appearances have changed since then. Viewers will watch them watch the show. We’re also working with our talent to discover which episodes from their shows are their favorites. We’ll show those episodes with a wrap from the stars as to why these episodes are so important to them in their minds and in their hearts. We’ve also been licensing lifestyles/home content from Canada, the U.K., Australia and other countries. It has to meet a certain bar, but that will help to feed the pipeline as well.

MCN: Does HGTV, with its targeted and loyal fan base, have an audience retention advantage over general entertainment networks at this time?

JL: I think so. That speaks to how HGTV is comforting during these times. People know what they are going to get with HGTV; it feels good and it’s welcoming. That works for both our current and older titles. We had a bunch of premieres of [long-running series] House Hunters that we were scheduling irregularly. We soon discovered that there was some traction of the series since the COVID-19 outbreak, so we scheduled it regularly now at 10 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights after not having a regular time slot in months. We’re now putting promotional materials around it and it's doing great. That speaks to the familiarity of House Hunters and the desire of viewers to get back to programming that’s familiar and not stressful.

HGTV has renewed original series Property Brothers: Forever Home and Brother vs. Brother as part of a multi-year talent extension with show hosts Drew and Jonathan Scott, the network said Tuesday. 

The deal, which extends to 2022, also calls for the duo to develop exclusive home-related series and digital content in partnership with the network’s programming and creative teams, according to HGTV. 

“Drew and Jonathan are multi-talented HGTV stars and producers who deliver innovative and impactful content across all our platforms—linear and digital,” said Jane Latman, president, HGTV in a statement. “They are great collaborators, full of fun ideas and our audience and advertisers love them. It’s why we’ve ordered 40 more episodes of Property Brothers: Forever Home and six new episodes of Brother vs. Brother and why we have several new projects in development with them.”

RELATED: Scott Brothers' Family Business Expands its Tool Set 

HGTV has signed a new exclusive deal with Jonathan and Drew Scott -- best known as the Property Brothers -- the network announced Monday.

The deal calls for the twin brothers’ production company Scott Brothers Entertainment to produce content for TV, film and digital platforms, said the network. In addition, the company will also develop exclusive home-related series and digital content in partnership with the network’s programming and creative teams.

The company currently produces Property Brothers as well as Property Brothers: Buying & Selling, Brother vs. Brother and Property Brothers at Home.

RELATED: 'Property Brothers' stars Drew and Jonathan Scott build a production house

"Jonathan and Drew are the epitome of innovative, multi-talented television stars and they inspire audiences no matter the vehicle, no matter the platform," said Allison Page, General Manager, U.S. Programming and Development, Scripps Networks Interactive in a statement. "We have big ideas in development at HGTV and there’s no way we would want to continue our creative journey without the Scott brothers.” 

The deal comes as the network’s popular series Fixer Uppers is set to end later this year after the show’s stars, Joanna and Chip Gaines, late last year announced their decision to depart the series. HGTV is currently airing the show’s fifth and final season.

Drew and Jonathan Scott are best known as co-hosts of the successful HGTV home renovation series The Property Brothers. The 39-year-old twins have also used their talented tools in the production arena, creating original unscripted and scripted fare through their production company Scott Brothers Entertainment. Shows generated by the brothers for the three-year-old company include Brother vs. Brother and Property Brothers at Home.

The Scott brothers recently spoke to Multichannel News programming editor R. Thomas Umstead to discuss their success and future plans both on-screen and behind the scenes on the production front. An edited transcript follows.

THE PRODUCTION ISSUE > Cover Story: John Landgraf's Legion of Hits | Finance: Production Profits Now Power VOD Leaders | Viewpoint: What Comes After Networks? Neo-Studios | Through the Wire: ITN Plotting British Invasion Into U.S. Production Market

MCN:At this point in your careers, are you more excited about a future on-screen as television show hosts, or behind the scenes as producers?
Drew Scott: Jonathan and I obviously really enjoy being on-screen as hosts of what we do and we will continue to do. However, there’s only so much time available to be filming and shooting. We shoot over 50 hours of original programming a year and in the home space, so for us it was a natural progression to go to the producing side because we can develop new talent, we can develop new shows and expand past that crutch of us having to be on camera. So we actually produce quite a few shows for Scripps Networks from home to travel. Actually, the whole reason we got into real estate was to fund our creative endeavors and try to do scripted projects, and we just took off with what we were doing within real estate and then hosting. Now we’ve come back to our roots of producing.

MCN:Do you see yourselves developing scripted content at some point in the near future?
Johnathan Scott: We actually have several feature scripts that were written at some point that we will produce. We’re in the process right now of co-producing a scripted comedy with another major production company, but our wheelhouse is definitely lifestyle television non-scripted programming. Even in the home space, we get approached by many, many networks and other large production companies that share expertise in the home space, who really want to capitalize on how efficient we’ve become in creating that kind of programming.

DS: With our production company, Scott Brothers Entertainment, we embraced the digital realm a lot sooner than a lot of other production companies. For HGTV, we have produced some of their top-viewed digital content such as Toddler vs. Toddler, which was a scripted take on our show Brother vs. Brother.

MCN:If you weren’t initially looking to become real estate TV stars, how didProperty Brothersbecome so popular?
JS: I did not think Drew would be popular at all. (Laughs.) It’s funny, you never know what an audience is going to really enjoy. The interesting thing is originally going way back in the day, we were approached by another production company to do Property Brothers, and it was sort of following what we were doing with clients. And originally when we took the show out, the networks didn’t see the brother dynamic being as effective as the male/female host dynamic. But it eventually became successful, and we’ve discovered throughout the years of doing the show and all of our spinoff shows that it’s really more about the story, the banter between us and the connection with the homeowners than just the beautiful before and after.

DS: Way back in the beginning, we never thought in a million years about being hosts because we were actors as kids, and acting was a huge passion of mine along with directing scripted shows. But when we were being approached as real estate experts for a show pitch, I started thinking, “OK, maybe there is something in that space that can help grow our brand and our business.” We were always more of the savvy business mind; we were never just actors or talent waiting for the next call from our agent. So we then started to see how becoming hosts could really open up an opportunity for us to expand what we do, as well as expand our production company.

MCN:There seem to be a lot of home-themed shows in the marketplace across numerous networks. Are you concerned about genre oversaturation?
JS: There is still a demand for these shows — even if you go back 20 or 30 years, people love talking about real estate; they are always looking for inspiration. Our shows are airing in over 150 countries and you wouldn’t think off the top of your head that our shows would be appealing in someplace like Asia but they really are. So I think it’s a matter of finding a unique format and a unique way to stand out. Those shows that hope to have the most success are the ones that are authentically doing what they set out to do.

DS: Our development team is scouring the U.S. and Canada every day looking for new talent through social platforms. We’re looking for those authentic people doing what they do day in and day out and trying to bring those stories to the public.

Fresh episodes of HGTV’s hit series starring the popular Scott brothers have been ordered up by the Scripps Networks Interactive outlet.

The network has ordered 52 new episodes of Property Brothers, featuring contractor Jonathan Scott and real estate expert Drew Scott, who help families find, buy and transform a house into their dream home. HGTV also ordered 13 additional episodes of spinoff show Property Brothers: Buying & Selling, about helping homeowners sell their home and buy a new one.

HGTV said a new season of Property Brothers will launch on Wednesday, Feb. 17, at 9 p.m. ET/PT while Property Brothers: Buying & Selling returns to the HGTV schedule in July.

HGTV said Wednesday’s (June 24) 9 p.m. finale of Brother vs. Brother averaged a 0.95 rating among viewers ages 25-54, making it a top 10 cable program in primetime that night.

The competition series, which highlighted the all-for-fun sibling rivalry of "Property Brothers" Jonathan and Drew Scott as they vied to renovate and resell two Las Vegas fixer uppers, also was the top-rated cable program for the night among upscale women ages 25-54, the Scripps Networks outlet said. The finale helped HGTV garner a top-five cable network position among viewers viewers ages 25-54 and among women ages 25-54 on Wednesday night. More than 3.7 million total viewers watched the season finale as Jonathan defeated Drew, HGTV said. 

The third season of Brother vs. Brother now ranks as one of the top three highest-rated series on HGTV this year, and ratings grew nearly 50% versus season two. Averaging a 0.94 among viewers ages 25-54, this season is the highest-rated of the series to date. More than 13 million total viewers watched the third season of Brother vs. Brother

“The Brothers have delivered another breakthrough hit, proving once again that our audience can’t get enough of Jonathan and Drew,” Allison Page, general manager, HGTV, DIY Network and Great American Country, said in a release. 

The sale of both brothers’ renovated homes yielded a profit of $88,888, which will be donated to the Southern Nevada affiliate of HGTV’s longtime charitable partner, Rebuilding Together, a national organization that transforms the lives of low-income homeowners by providing critical home repairs to improve the safety and health of their homes and revitalizing the communities in which they live, the network said.

Jonathan and Drew Scott are hosts/executive producers of Brother vs. Brother. They also star in HGTV’s series Property Brothers and Buying & Selling. Their new series, Property Brothers at Home on the Ranch (working title), will premiere on HGTV in fall 2015. 

HGTV said its 0.58 primetime rating among viewers ages 25-54 in February made that month the network's highest rated ever, surpassing the mark just set in January 2015.

HGTV said the primetime ratings grew 18% over that of February 2014. And on the weekends, 6% growth led to a 0.55 rating among viewers ages 25-54 on Saturday and Sunday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Series such as Ellen’s Design Challenge, Fixer Upper and Property Brothers led the way. More than 43 million total viewers watched HGTV in primetime in February, the Scripps Networks outlet said.

The finale of the Ellen DeGeneres show airs Monday, March 2, at 9 p.m. ET/PT as the last two competitors -- Tim McClellan of Durango, Colo., and Katie Stout of Brooklyn, N.Y. -- go head-to-head to win a $100,000 cash prize courtesy of Wayfair.com and a feature in HGTV Magazine. HGTV said it finished second among women ages 25-54 and first among upscale women in that bracket among cable networks.

Caption: Ellen's Design Challenge finalists Katie Stout (left) and Tim McClellan (center) speak to Ellen DeGeneres (right) before the last round of competition on the HGTV furniture design series. (Photo: Business Wire.)