Is the Golden Age of HGTV Dead? Future of Real Estate Network Thrown Into Doubt Amid Show Cancelations and Wobbly Ratings

Popular real estate-centric television network HGTV appears to be in rather desperate need of a renovation.

Longtime fans of the network have been left up in arms over the past week after the hosts of four popular series announced that their shows had been abruptly axed—raising questions about the futures of much of its other programming.

Since June 18, the hosts of “Bargain Block,” “Married to Real Estate,” “Farmhouse Fixer,” and “Izzy Does It” have all shared the heartbreaking news about their shows’ cancelations, with many of them confessing that the decision not to renew their series had come as a complete surprise.

The news prompted an outpouring of frustration from dedicated HGTV fans, some of whom even threatened to boycott the network in protest against the programs’ sudden disappearance from the airwaves.

Some suggested that lagging ratings were to blame—however, an analysis of HGTV’s viewership numbers indicate that the canceled shows were by no means stuck at the bottom of the network’s programming pile.

For example, “Bargain Block,” which debuted in 2021, had an audience of 731,000 for its most-recently aired episode, according to the U.S. Television Database (US TVDB)—around 300,000 more viewers than series like “Divided by Design” and “Fix My Frankenhouse.”

Meanwhile, the most recent episode of “Farmhouse Fixer” drew in an audience of 951,000 people, ranking it among the network’s most-watched shows.

On the flip side, “Married to Real Estate” had seen a drastic decline in viewership before its cancellation, with the latest episode drawing in just 571,000.

As yet, HGTV has yet to comment on its reasons for the cancellations, leaving it to the shows’ hosts to deliver the heartbreaking news about the end of their series’ run.

According to television expert Joe Saltzman, a professor of journalism at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California, the decision to trim down HGTV’s slate could well be an attempt to cut the fat, as it were—allowing the network to focus its energies on quality over quantity.

“I think what happened, and it may be happening to the food shows as well, is that these networks are just putting on too many [shows],” he tells Realtor.com®.

“There is a great audience for these home improvement and cooking shows, but glut is glut. Too much of anything eventually doesn’t work.”

However, there is no denying that HGTV’s popularity has waned in recent years, with US TVDB numbers indicating that there has been a steady decline in viewers since 2021, particularly when it comes to primetime programming.

In 2021, the network’s primetime programming was watched by an average of 1,243,000—however, in 2024, that number fell to 773,000.

By April of this year, that figure had plummeted again, dropping to 614,000.

One TV insider, who did not wish to be named, tells Realtor.com that HGTV’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, will be taking a hard look at the reasons for this steady decline—and will be taking drastic action in order to buck that trend.

There are, of course, other factors that could be contributing to the network’s apparent ratings struggle, including the rise of real estate-centric programming among its competitors, particularly streaming giants like Netflix and HBO Max.

While Netflix focuses its efforts largely on the glitz and glamour of the real estate industry—signing up star agents and brokers like Ryan Serhant and Jason Oppenheim to lay bare the so-called truth behind the world of high-value homebuying—HBO has put its eggs in the basket of former HGTV stars Chip and Joanna Gaines, and their Magnolia Network.

The married home flippers, who shot to fame while starring in HGTV hit “Fixer Upper,” launched their own slate of home improvement programming under the Magnolia banner in 2022; the network had previously been known as the DIY Network and served as a sister channel to HGTV.

But while Magnolia falls under the Warner Bros. Discovery umbrella, many believe that its creation has drawn viewers away from HGTV.

The rise of home improvement influencers has undoubtedly played a role in lagging viewer numbers, with hundreds of accounts dedicated to DIY hacks, decoration tips, and renovation advice popping up on websites like TikTok and Instagram in recent years.

HGTV has attempted to tap into this trend, launching an entire show around one particularly popular TikTok influencer, Galey Alix, in 2023.

The series, entitled “Home in a Heartbeat,” followed the former Wall Street executive as she carried out surprise renovations of family homes—often completing entire transformations in just a matter of days.

However, that series proved to be very short-lived, with Alix revealing in October 2024 that she had pulled the plug on the program after her hectic schedule caused her to suffer severe mental and physical trauma.

“My nervous system was completely shutting down,” she explained to People. “By the end of the show, I realized I don’t have a nervous system; I am a nervous system.

“We would be awake for sometimes 86 hours straight, going up and down ladders and installing drywall, lighting, built-ins, wallpaper—all while the cameras were filming. And then add on top of that, I’m also hosting, I’m also producing, I’m the contractor slash designer slash day-laborer.

“I was wearing so many hats. And my whole body was just literally decomposing in front of me.”

Meanwhile, Alix’s TikTok videos continue to rake in hundreds of thousands of views—with some regularly topping 1 million.

According to Saltzman, this pivot away from HGTV’s classic programming in favor of trying to capitalize on new trends and fads could be part of the reason why the channel is struggling to perform among its longer-term fans.

“The new owners of these networks are trying too many fancy variations on an old theme, and I think the audience—mostly a traditional older audience—does not like all the new tricks and bells and whistles involved,” he says.

“My wife and I, for example, have watched these shows for 30 years, and we’re tired of all the variations that are coming out. So we always go back to our favorites … and pretty much ignore the newer shows, which usually go off the air in a year or two.”

HGTV representatives did not respond to repeated requests for comment.