Ina Garten Photo by Rob Kim/Getty Images for The Webby Awards Ina Garten is trading TV for YouTube, launching a video podcast on the streaming platform in partnership with Vox Media.
Garten will host Happy Hour on her newly-launched YouTube channel, which will see the cookbook author and Food Network host sit down with guests from the worlds of culture, food, art, entertainment and sports in her New York City apartment. Yes, there will be food and cocktails too.
Vox Media will oversee sales, marketing, and distribution for Happy Hour.
“I’ve always thought the best part of a great dinner party is the conversation—the stories you find yourself lingering over and listening in on. That’s how I want Happy Hour to be,” says Garten. “I get to invite people I’m curious to know more about to my home and get to know them — how they got where they are, what makes them laugh, and what they’re still figuring out. I want Happy Hour to feel like you’re right there in the kitchen with us, having a drink and joining the conversation.”
“For decades, we’ve all come to Ina for the recipes and stayed for the way she makes us feel,” adds Lillian Xu, VP of podcast business at Vox Media. “As the consummate host, Ina has always known how to make people feel at ease, which makes for the best and most memorable conversations. This is such a beautiful, fun, and special show, and we are thrilled to partner with her on it. We can’t wait to spend our Wednesdays enjoying a happy hour in Ina’s world.”
Garten, of course, is the former host of the long-running Food Network series Barefoot Contessa, and the author of some 14 cookbooks. She most recently hosted the interview series Be My Guest for Food Network and Discovery+, which like Happy Hour saw her in conversation with guests from home in the Hamptons.
But her move to YouTube underscores how the trendlines in media are changing, with the Google-owned video platform becoming the largest home for podcasts, and arguably the most influential place for cooking content, as cable channels like Food Network continue to fade alongside the rest of the pay-TV ecosystem.
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