HGTV has been struggling financially behind the scenes, which is what reportedly contributed to the network's decision to pull so many shows off the air. In a Monday, July 28, report from Deadline, the outlet claimed that HGTV has gone through a significant decline in viewership in the last eight years. Citing Nielsen, the breakdown revealed that HGTV had an average of 1.5 million viewers in 2017, which has since decreased to around just 773,000 for last year's programs. The U.S.