• by Sara Guaglione , February 25, 2020

The company claims those numbers can compete with linear TV networks. In Q4 2019, for example, the top-rated episodes of E! reality show “Keeping Up With The Kardashians” averaged 928,000 viewers.

As a comparison: an episode of Vogue’s show “73 Questions,” featuring a Q&A with Kim Kardashian inside her home, reached 9.5 million viewers in the first seven days (and over 43 million views to date), according to the presentation.

The average age of home-centric cable network viewers is 52, but the largest cohort of homeowners in 2019 were millennials. According to the presentation this morning, 89% of millennials are watching online video, likely a 65.7 million audience by this year.

The idea behind "Home/Made" was spurred by the success of Architectural Digest's video series on YouTube, such as its "Open Door" show, where celebrities give tours of their homes. 

The editorial strategy and audience insights and data behind the growth of AD’s video programming was applied to other Condé Nast brands, such as Vogue and GQ, Lloyd D’Souza, head of content development at Condé Nast Entertainment, told Publishers Daily.

The approach will also be applied to new shows Condé Nast will launch this spring, which “really lean into the home category,” he said.

“We’ve got a rather large audience on YouTube with our current programming,” Jeff Barish, Chief Industry Officer of Home at Condé Nast, told Publishers Daily. Barish hosted the presentation at Condé Nast this morning. 

“The fact that video is bringing in droves of millennial audiences … It felt like the right time to organize this for the home partner marketplace,” to show advertisers how home content is produced through different lenses from the variety of Condé Nast brands, Barish added.

The team wants to show clients that they can buy, integrate or co-create ads with those brands. “We are connecting the dots between our portfolio,” D’Souza said.

Barish added: “We are going to market with an organized view of all the programs from all the brands across YouTube, with home as a contextual background and how [advertisers] can buy this as a package."

YouTube series hosted by in-house talent were performing well for Condé Nast, so a new show called “Closet Cleaners" is being produced, featuring a Vogue fashion editor exploring celebrities' closets.

Another show from GQ Sports will debut in a few weeks, called “Walk In,” which will have athletes give tours of their walk-in closets.

AD will soon launch “Clever Conversions” and work with a partner transforming a space inside the home.

Advertisers have two key opportunities, Barish said. They can co-create custom content with Condé Nast for pre-roll, mid-roll or post-roll. Clients can also integrate their products within episodes — an episode of Bon Appetit can feature a brand's saucepan, for example.

Advertisers “can use the first-party data segments that we have here at Condé Nast, to target the people they need across our programming to optimize in real time and scale,” Barish said.

During the presentation, AD editor-in-chief Amy Astley interviewed tennis star and entrepreneur Maria Sharapova about her home and lifestyle. Sharapova and her home were featured in an episode of "Open Door."

The editors of Clever, Bon Appetit, Self, Wired and GQ (Nora Taylor, Carla Lalli Music, Leta Shy, Nick Thompson and Will Welch, respectively) gave a talk on how audiences engage with their brands. They discussed their personal connection with their homes and the editorial produced around homes and lifestyle.