Looks like American TV viewers would rather learn how to redesign their kitchens than cook in them.
The key demographic audience of the fast-growing HGTV network jumped 7.9 percent in the first half of 2013, leaping past the Food Network — which saw its key audience demo fall 16 percent.
It’s the first time in three years that HGTV topped its corporate cousin.
“As the housing market rebounds, people are looking for ideas,” said Brad Adgate research chief at Horizon Media.
HGTV added an average of 39,000 viewers ages 25 to 54, according to Nielsen, bringing its average audience to 532,000 viewers in the key demo in the first six months of the year.
Watching chefs cook seems so last year.
The Food Network lost 97,000 viewers in the key demo to fall to an average audience of 509,000, Nielsen stats show.
The momentum swing in US living rooms — toward watching shows about the home and tuning out food fodder — is also benefitting the DIY Network, which saw its total audience grow by 12.9 percent in the second quarter, according to Nielsen.
Scripps Networks Interactive backs all three channels. Tribune Co. has a 31 percent stake in Food Network.
Overall, HGTV drew 1.269 million viewers in the second quarter, while Food garnered a little less, 1.06 million.
The two are about even in revenue.
One example of just how hot HGTV is can be seen in the ratings of recently launched “Renovation Raiders.”
First shown just a month ago, the show is already drawing 6 million viewers a night — making it one of Thursday’s biggest shows on cable and already one of HGTV’s top three shows.
HGTV saw its best-ever prime-time ratings among women ages 25 to 54 since the third quarter of 2009, according to Billie Gold, the VP of programming at Carat.
HGTV also has a co-venture with Hearst Magazines. In May the two said HGTV magazine would boost its rate base from 800,000 to 1 million starting in January 2014.
At the same time, pending home sales hit a six-year high in May, rising by 6.7 percent, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Interestingly, as the housing market revives so, too, is the country’s interest in flipping houses for profit.
The HGTV show, “Flip or Flop,” is among its fastest-growing programs, it said.
Scripps ad sales boss Jon Steinlauf told The Post: “We are putting better product on the air, and there’s pent-up demand for housing renovations or trading up because of the psychology of the market.”
Steinlauf said there was a strong resurgence in advertisers in the flooring, paint and plumbing categories.