Canadian prodcos are growing on the strength of continued strong demand for lifestyle programming, both domestically and abroad.

According to Playback’s 19th Annual Report on Independent Production, prodcos spent $114 million on magazine/lifestyle/reality TV in 2006, a 49% jump over the previous year.

And this marked increase isn’t only because more of this inexpensive programming is being made. Canadian producers point out that domestic broadcasters are willing to pay more for lifestyle series with the potential to be ratings winners. Plus, presales to U.S. specialty channels and international territories are bumping up the budgets on their shows.

‘There are a lot more international opportunities in lifestyle programming,’ says Cal Shumiatcher, a partner in Vancouver’s Paperny Films, which had a 2006 production volume of $10.1 million, mostly divided between documentary and lifestyle programming.

While lifestyle and magazine shows have long been criticized as cheap Cancon for broadcasters, Shumiatcher notes that the casters are realizing that this programming can be important drivers of their schedule.

He points to Paperny’s Food Network Canada series Glutton for Punishment, which launched last month and is already one of the specialty channel’s top 10 shows. And the prodco’s Outdoor Life Network series Road Hockey Rumble is a leading program for that network.

‘I have noticed that domestic broadcasters are stepping up and saying we want our product to compete in primetime, and if you can deliver that, we are willing to pay for it,’ says Shumiatcher.

Meanwhile, Toronto’s Tricon Films and Television saw its production volume more than double in 2006 to $11.9 million, with $10.8 million of that in the magazine and lifestyle genres.

Carrie Mudd, VP of development and distribution at Tricon, says increased international demand for lifestyle programming means it is making more shows with higher budgets tailored for the Canadian and worldwide marketplace.

‘We are doing a fair amount of coproductions and presales in the lifestyle genre for the first time,’ she says. ‘We are finding that international broadcasters will do a presale on a lifestyle program, which allows us to work with bigger budgets.’

For example, Tricon’s series Life Is a Trip is being financed with licences from Travel + Escape in Canada, Discovery Travel in the U.S., plus presales to Discovery Asia and TV4 Sweden.

The prodco is also finding new revenue streams by licensing the formats of its successful Canadian lifestyle series. Its Food Network/HGTV program Restaurant Makeover has been licensed to 13 territories as a format deal, and Mudd says she is currently negotiating format sales for the new HGTV series Green Force, in which landscape designers go to a variety of concrete jungle locations and add green space.

Mudd is also noting interest in treaty copros.

‘We have been approached by producers in Australia and the U.K. who want to work together on a lifestyle show that works for both countries,’ she says.