Global popularity
Vancouver-raised ‘Property Brothers’ count celebrities as fans as international fame grows
Taylor Swift and her family are “obsessed” with them, Russell Crowe is a “big fan,” and Cher has championed them on Twitter.
Vancouver-raised “Property Brothers” twins Jonathan and Drew Scott, who debut season 2 of “Brother vs. Brother: Jonathan vs. Drew” on HGTV Canada today, are bona fide international stars these days.
Their shows are broadcast in more than 150 countries, the New York Times recently had a big profile on the home renovation gurus, and People magazine made them the cover story in April.
The dimpled duo has even achieved enough pop culture cachet that TV series like “Brooklyn Nine Nine” and “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” have referenced them in dialogue.
“I think our female viewers want to date them, our male viewers want to grab a beer with them but everybody is inspired by them,” said Kathleen Finch, chief of programming, content and brand officer for Scripps Networks Interactive, the parent company of HGTV.
“They’re not just on the network because they’re pretty boys. They’re on the network because they’re really great home experts and they have great design tastes and great skills.”
They’re also “really, really good producers,” satisfy HGTV viewers’ voracious appetite for content and “are, without a doubt, one of our most highly rated and most popular talent,” Finch added.
Part of the “Property Brothers” brand is a family-friendly wholesomeness that connects with viewers — the Scotts’ parents, older brother and their significant others are also a part of the business and sometimes appear on their shows. And, of course, there’s the identical twin factor (hints for telling them apart: Drew is the realtor, Jonathan is the contractor and has a scar between his eyebrows).
The Scotts have an ever-growing number of stories about meeting celebrities who love their shows.
“On the ‘Today’ show late last year, we were co-hosting and Russell Crowe was there and ... came over afterwards and said - in his Russell Crowe voice — ‘Hi, Jonathan and Drew, I just want to say I’m a big fan of your show,”’ Drew recalled in a recent phone interview.
“Jonathan acted all cool until Russell Crowe walked away and (then) turned around to me and said, ‘Gladiator loves the show!”’