Chip and Joanna Gaines’ Magnolia Network app (finally) revealed a launch plan on Thursday, when we found out the digital offering will precede the January 2022 DIY Network rebranding on linear cable. Additionally, we learned that the Magnolia app, which you can download this summer, will be a free add-on to the paid Discovery+ streaming service.
Previously, the concept appeared to include an option for consumers to pay for Magnolia programming in a standalone manner. Magnolia Network president Allison Page told TheWrap the plan experienced an “evolution to free,” and not so much a “shift.”
“A direct-to-consumer offering was something we envisioned from the beginning, we just thought we were going to start with linear and then move to the app. It was not determined that it would be paid, we kind of stayed open to all options as we went along. So that wasn’t a shift as much as an evolution,” Page said in response to TheWrap’s question during a panel at the Television Critics Association press tour Thursday. “But I think, you know, you’ve got an ad-supported layer within discovery+, and then with our linear rebrand next year, that’s obviously a piece of it as well. And then we’re talking about options within the app. But the evolution to free was an evolution and not really a shift in that front.”
One of those “options within the app” will be a retail shop for Joanna Gaines’ Magnolia brand. So there’s a way to make up for any lost monetization.
The Magnolia app will also include a recipe center and workshops for do-it-yourselfers. And oh yeah, and there will be the TV shows. The app will house all the Magnolia originals and the entire “Fixer Upper” library. Included on that slate are “Fixer Upper: Welcome Home,” “Magnolia Table with Joanna Gaines,” “Growing Floret,” “The Lost Kitchen,” “Homegrown,” “Family Dinner” and “Restoration Road with Clint Harp.”
Discovery+ costs $4.99 per month, making it one of the best deals in streaming. That is Discovery’s sales pitch, but it’s also correct — especially when Magnolia joins on July 15.