As you read this story, partygoers are still savoring the sights, sounds, smells and songs of the 2024 holiday season. But at the Hallmark Channel, it’s already December 2025.
That’s how gingerbread crumbles when you’re America’s best-known maker of warm, cozy holiday movies that millions of viewers gather around their nearest screens to watch when the weather gets colder is terrible.
For the record, living in the future is a feature (not a bug) of working at Hallmark. “We start developing our films a year or two away,” Lisa Hamilton Daly, the cable network’s vice president of programming, revealed to ADWEEK, happily comparing her workplace to Santa’s North Pole. “There are highly skilled elves in this workshop.”
Hallmark definitely gets a high rating from the holidays. In November, it was the fourth most-watched basic cable network by total viewers, a month otherwise dominated by presidential election news. It also finished in the network’s top 10 among popular demos among adults 25-54, confirming its multi-generational appeal. At the same time, the move to live events, including cruise ships And bus tours– allowed the network’s dedicated audience to meet their favorite artists in person.
And Daly recently helped oversee the addition of a new wing to Hallmark’s existing workshop. In September, the network launched Hallmark+ streaming servicewhich replaced the on-demand platform Hallmark Movies Now. “It was an idea that was in play when I got here,” said the Netflix veteran, who left that streaming giant for Hallmark in early 2021.
Not for nothing, but his former employer is one of several streamers becoming more active in the holiday movie genre, and the debut of Hallmark+ is a clear sign that Hallmark intends to keep up with the evolving seasons as audiences move away from linear platforms to digital platforms. . “Part of our mission is to get our brand out there, and we’re trying to find different ways to do that,” Daly acknowledged.
The Christmas Cast with the Singhs, one of Hallmark’s 32 Christmas movies for 2024Courtesy of Syd Wong/Hallmark
The Ghost of Christmas Past (films)
Before we get too far into how this is happening on the Hallmark Channel, here’s a quick recap of how it started. The network’s parent company, greeting card giant Hallmark Cards, got into the cable game in the late ’90s, purchasing a stake in faith-based network Odyssey. A name change followed in 2001, and eight years later, Bill Abbott took over as CEO and put the channel on track to becoming the premier destination on the dial for made-for-TV holiday movies.
Daly credits Abbot, who left Hallmark in 2020 after the network came under fire for I publish an ad presenting a same-sex marriage– by “building the foundations” of the brand she joined three years ago. “It was an amazing place to come into, seeing how much audiences love the channel and our talent,” she says. “I see myself as just carrying on that legacy.” (Abbot is currently chairman and CEO of Great American Media, which has built its own holiday movie workshop on the Great American Family channel.)
The cornerstone of Hallmark’s strategy is Countdown to Christmas, a jam-packed collection of original movies that begin streaming long before those stockings are neatly hung by the fireplace. Hallmark’s countdown to 2024, for example, began on October 18 and includes a total of 32 films starring all the usual fan favorites, from Lacey Chabert and Nikki DeLoach to Wes Brown and Paul Campbell.
While Christmas is the centerpiece of this particular holiday smorgasbord, Hallmark’s creative team has strived to embrace other cultural traditions. This year’s lineup includes Christmas with the Singhs, which features a Desi family, and Hanukkah on the Rocks, starring Degrassi veteran Stacey Farber as a Jewish heroine.
The network also explores stories about characters in different “life stages” than the single 20- and 30-somethings looking for love who tend to be front and center. Case in point: Holiday Mismatch reunites Sabrina the Teenage Witch co-stars Beth Broderick and Caroline Rhea as troubled moms who become friends after their adult children fall in love.
“These things present themselves,” Daly said, adding that Hallmark’s programming team doesn’t have a “quota” when it comes to pursuing more diverse productions. “We make so many films that you have to ask yourself, ‘What else can we do and how can we do it?’ »
(Earlier this year, Daly was named in an age discrimination lawsuit filed by former Hallmark casting director Penny Perry, who alleged the network sought to “replace” its “old talent” with younger actors In a statement provided to ADWEEK, Hallmark denied the “Hallmark continues to build and maintain positive and productive relationships with talented actors representing a broad spectrum of diversity, including actors who span many groups. age and of several generations,” the statement said.)
Jonathan Bennett hosts Hallmark+ reality series Finding Mr. ChristmasCourtesy of Kim Nunneley/Hallmark
Stream the hallways
Hallmark+ will be part of this “what else can we do” initiative as it allows the network to cross its own final frontier: unscripted television. Celebrations With Lacey Chabert was one of the streamer’s launch titles in September and features the Mean Girls star throwing parties for everyday heroes. This was followed by Finding Mr. Christmas, hosted by Jonathan Bailey, which aims to uncover the next Hallmark holiday tune. “We’re playing with what looks a little different and a little more exciting to attract eyeballs,” Daly said, noting that they’ve already seen a positive response among younger viewers to these first dips into the TV waters. reality.
Daly confirmed that these three unscripted shows – as well as original series like family drama The Chicken Sisters and star-studded limited series Holidazed – will be exclusive to the new streaming service for the immediate future. “They will be on the channel in the future, but we want to give them a long runway so people can sample them,” she notes, adding that Hallmark+ will also host an extensive library of films from Christmases past, as well as a retrospective. catalog of non-holiday mysteries and romantic comedies.
However, this year’s Countdown to Christmas programming is only streaming on Peacock. Hallmark signed a deal that makes movies available on streamer NBCUniversal three days after they premiere on the cable network. Meanwhile, some older titles will not yet be available on Hallmark+ due to a licensing agreement with Netflix. Daly said this is all part of the network’s “testing and learning phase” in the wide world of streaming.
“It’s the best of all worlds,” she emphasizes. “I’m constantly talking to people about the types of partnerships and showcase opportunities that people would never have done in the past.”
Beth Broderick and Caroline Rhea in Holiday MismatchCourtesy of Philippe Bosse/Hallmark
O Hallmark Night
Daly also understands — and even encourages — Hallmark talent who have embarked on their own explorations of the streaming space. Chabert, for example, is currently starring in Netflix’s viral holiday movie Hot Frosty, which Daly saw and describes as “very cute,” but not exactly in the Hallmark-specific holiday way.
“Netflix and, to some extent, Lifetime are getting a little more into ‘Sexy Christmas,'” she said. “It’s not something we’re going to do. We have our handsome men, but this is a much healthier family approach to romance and love. There’s a path for everyone here, and ours is a clear path that we know our audience truly appreciates.
This appreciation is mutual. Daly made it clear that the Hallmark Workshop is a viewer-driven environment that wants to be the gift it continues to give to its fans. “We have this core of love, emotion and connectivity at the heart of the brand,” said the self-proclaimed Christmas enthusiast, who admits she is still putting up her Christmas display.
“I literally have a storage unit for all my Christmas stuff,” Daly joked. “So I ended up in the right place.”
