Corus Entertainment has reported a strong start to fiscal 2022 with increased ad revenues, a raft of sales at Corus Studios and a new HGTV Canada greenlight that unites two of its biggest stars.

Renovation Resort (7 x 60 minutes) will see Scott McGillivray and Bryan Baeumler co-host a competition series where four contractor teams will design and renovate waterfront cabins at a lakeside resort purchased by Baeumler.

The series is produced by McGillivray Entertainment Media and is scheduled to go into production in the summer for a spring 2023 premiere on HGTV Canada. Corus Studios holds worldwide distribution rights.

Corus Studios also expanded the episode orders for several new and renewed series for the 2022/23 broadcast year. Among the new series, four additional episodes were ordered for Gut Job (12 x 60 minutes) and two episodes for Sarah’s Mountain Escape (10 x 60 minutes). Of the returning series, two additional episodes were added for season two of Farmhouse Facelift (10 x 60 minutes), six for season three of Big Food Bucket List (20 x 30 minutes) and four for season four of Rust Valley Restorers (10 x 60 minutes).

More than 250 hours of Corus Studios content was sold to European broadcasters in Q1 2022, Corus reported on Thursday (Jan. 13), as well as French-language deals with Quebecor Content and Bell Media.

The U.K.’s Discovery channel acquired the first three seasons of Island of Bryan (31 x 60 minutes) while ITV picked up season two of The Big Bake (18 x 60 minutes) and season two of Making It Home with Kortney and Kenny (10 x 60 minutes).

Season three of Island of Bryan was also acquired by Germany’s Discovery channel alongside seasons one and two of Masters of Flip (26 x 60 minutes). Germany’s SevenOne Entertainment Group acquired Project Bakeover (10 x 60 minutes).

Poland’s Canal+ acquired seasons three and four of Backyard Builds (19 x 30 minutes) and Telewizja WP picked up seasons two and three of History Erased (10 x 60 minutes) and season two of Making It Home with Kortney and Kenny.

Rounding out European sales is France’s 6TER, which acquired all four seasons of $ave My Reno (56 x 30 minutes) and season four of Backyard Builds.

Quebecor Content has acquired French-language rights to seven Corus Studios series: Family Home Overhaul (8 x 60 minutes), Making It Home with Kortney and Dave (10 x 60 minutes), Home to Win (10 x 60 minutes) and Rock Solid Builds (10 x 60 minutes), as well as additional seasons of Fire Masters (20 x 60 minutes), Junior Chef Showdown (8 x 60 minutes) and Island of Bryan (Season 3 – 10×60). Bell Media’s French-language acquisitions include season four of $ave My Reno, (Season 4 – 14×30) and seasons one of two of Scott’s Vacation House Rules (22 x 60 minutes).

Corus Entertainment reported an 11% uptick in television revenue for Q1 2022, surpassing pre-pandemic levels, according to president Doug Murphy during a call with investors.

The company reported a 10% increase in overall revenue year-over-year, earning $463.8 million in 2022 compared to $420.3 million in the same period in 2021. Television revenue for Q1 2022 was $434.7 million compared to $392.1 million in Q1 2021. Free cash flow saw a 28% increase, coming in at $80 million compared to $62.3 million in last year’s Q1.

The increase was partially driven by a 16% increase in advertising revenue year-over-year, earning $285 million in Q1 2022 compared to $246.2 million in Q1 2021. Global earned strong ratings in fall 2021, according to Corus, claiming five of the top 10 most-watched programs in Canada last quarter. Radio revenues saw a more modest 3% increase, coming in at $29.1 million from $28.2 million in Q1 2021.

Subscriber revenue also increased by 3% year-over-year, coming in at $127.5 million from $123.7 in Q1 2021. Corus reported an additional 50,000 subscribers on its streaming platforms, including STACKTV and Nick+, up to 725,000 as of Jan. 10, compared to 675,000 on Oct. 21. The company recently inked a deal with Rogers to expand STACKTV to Rogers Ignite TV and Rogers SmartStream platforms. The service launched on Amazon Prime Video in 2019.