HGTV Pairs with Kudzu for Local Effect

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A partnership announced last week between Kudzu.com and HGTV.com will bring Kudzu’s local business listings to HGTV and, in turn, HGTV’s home and garden video content to Kudzu.

"We're aligning with them for a partnership that has lots of pieces," said Tom Bates, Kudzu’s general manager and VP of Cox Search. "Our content is pulled into a new services directory at HGTV.com and HGTV video content comes to Kudzu."

Kudzu.com is a Cox Enterprises-owned site that provides localized listings of home repair businesses. HGTV.com is a home and garden cable television site owned by Scripps Networks.

HGTV.com video content will appear around Kudzu and include clips from TV shows and specially-produced content that is relevant to home repair, according to Vikki Neil, GM and SVP for Scripps Networks online home brands. Some of the businesses that are posted at Kudzu also feature their own video content.

Kudzu.com launched in Atlanta in 2005, rolled out to three western cities in 2006, and went national last year. The site provides listings of more than 12 million home repair businesses which are rated by consumers.

"[HGTV.com is] a national site that’s trying to localize, so we'll help them do it, and we can pull in relevant video content from them," Bates said.

The partnership increased the exposure of the Kudzu listings, which will appear on both sites. Advertising sold by both sites; national ads sold by HGTV will appear at Kudzu, while ads bought by local companies at Kudzu will run on the Services page at HGTV.

Local businesses listed at Kudzu see the partnership as promising. "They'll see us splashed through HGTV and it will pop up in different areas. The exposure will be tremendous," said John Hillis, vice president of Casteel Heating and Air, an Atlanta company.

The predominantly female audience at HGTV could be a boost to local businesses, suggested Hillis. "Females make most of the decisions and they watch HGTV, so it adds credibility," he said.

The Kudzu content is also slated to appear on DIYNetwork.com, another Scripps site devoted to home repair beginning this fall, Neil said.