LIFESTYLE FOCUS
TIME FOR A CHECK UP With the trend towards healthier lifestyles continuing to accelerate, there is an increasing need for content focused on the growing health and wellness space. Here, realscreen talks to three North American networks about the changes they’ve seen in the genre and the varying degrees of difficulty in finding lifestyle programming that fits their brands. B Y K E L L Y A N D E R S O N VERIA LIVING As the health and wellness space becomes more mainstream in North America, with self-help books often on the bestsellers list and sightings of yoga mat-wielding city dwellers becoming ubiquitous, it’s surprising that there aren’t more channels in North America catering to that niche. Some of the networks that do have been around in some incarnation for 10 years, and have weathered the drastic changes in the health and wellness genre that have occurred over the past decade. Veria Living has been targeting this market in the U.S. since 2007, and underwent a relaunch about six months ago to freshen up the network. SVP of program sales Raymond
Donahue says the net aims to increase its number of viewers significantly this year, from its current base of 15 million homes. When it comes to a growing demand for health and wellness programming, Donahue says younger generations are driving the trend, citing a statistic that 19% of what’s termed ‘Generation Y’ – those between the ages of 21 and 30 – have health club memberships. “They’re into staying healthy,” he says. “The younger generation is into less of the junk food and more about feeling better about themselves and I think this is part of a growing trend worldwide.” The network’s offerings of natural wellness titles such as Under the Sun and exercise content such as BollyFIT attracts the 18-49
female demographic. “It’s for women who have a hectic lifestyle but who want to make themselves and their families more healthy and appreciate life more,” says Donahue. He adds that the network skews female because in a family situation, women are often making important decisions regarding the health and well-being of their families. As such, Donahue says the net aims to “take you from pregnancy to birth” and beyond. But he emphasizes that the point of the programming is not to be preachy. “Traditionally people think of wellness as stodgy informational programming, how to get from point A to B,” he says. “Although the network has something to say – how to make your life healthier and how to do it through
My Life Guru is one of Veria Living’s transformational wellness series
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14/03/12 5:20 PM