Hallmark+ Hopes Streaming Success Is In The Cards

Once upon a time, Hallmark Channel owned the world of sparkly, sweet, non-religious Christmas movies (although that might seem like a contradiction in terms). Gradually, its domination spread to other holidays, always with a cheerful, heart-tugging, lavishly decorated twist.

But, times are changing.

There’s More Than One Horse in the Race Now

These days, with the rise of Great American Media, its cable channel Great American Family, and its streamer, Great American Pure Flix, many familiar Hallmark stars are moving over to GAM.

The newer company — headed by former Hallmark chief Bill Abbott — is turning out movies very much in the style of what Hallmark used to do (but it’s much more faith-forward than Hallmark Channel ever was).

I say “used to,” but it’s not like Hallmark doesn’t make “Hallmark movies” anymore. It does. But, after Abbott’s departure, Hallmark began to shift its emphasis to “inclusivity,” with more ethnic diversity in storytelling and casting.

Also, Hallmark increasingly included LGBT-friendly storylines.

This last shift has caused some backlash from longtime viewers. But whether it’s that, competition from GAM, or the seismic changes in the cable industry itself, Hallmark has been losing viewership.

From a Feb 2024 story at CNBC.com:

In December, a peak ratings month for Hallmark, the network averaged about 1.3 million viewers, down about 40% from five years earlier. Overall in 2022, Hallmark Channel averaged 980,000 viewers, down 20% from 2018.

So, in a move that exemplifies that everything old is new again, Hallmark’s media side is renewing its relationship with those who buy its cards and gifts.

And, it’s upending the way it does streaming.

To Move Forward, Hallmark Looks Back

In 1910, Joyce Hall founded the company that became Hallmark, now based in Kansas City. Still family-owned, it branched into Christmas ornaments, home decor, etc. Its Hallmark Gold Crown stores remain a shopping-mall staple.

In the early 1950s, it began the long-running, much-honored Hallmark Hall of Fame TV-movie series. Then, in 1992, the cablenet Hallmark Channel was created. It originated out of faith-focused channels, but that has dimmed over the years.

That’s especially evident in Hallmark’s hundreds of secular Christmas movies, which have a lot of hot cocoa, ugly sweaters and decorations, but remain almost entirely Jesus-free.

But now, as cord-cutting threatens the existence of the cable-TV model, Hallmark is looking to reconnect with its past, in the form of a revamped streamer and, now, lifestyle brand, called Hallmark+.

Don’t expect Jesus to make a comeback, but you might get some big Gold Crown discounts.

Say Hello to Hallmark+

In July, during a morning-long presentation of press conferences at the biannual TV Critics Association Press Tour (a recent move by Hallmark, which just used to host parties with talent and executives), Hallmark/Hallmark Media president and CEO Mike Perry said:

We have a retail loyalty rewards program with 20 million people that are enrolled. Two thirds of those loyalty members, they regularly watch the Hallmark Channel. One third of those 20 million members, they watch the Hallmark Channel every single week.

If I said this differently to you, I’d say it this way. Our viewers are our shoppers and our shoppers are our viewers.

So today, as linear cable is being disrupted by the very streaming platforms, we actually see this as an opportunity to expand our storytelling and to align all of our brand touchpoints once again.

Perry expressed the company’s mission thus:

The greatest legacy of the Hall family is their steadfast commitment to a promise to help people make a meaningful difference in the lives of those they most care about.

We find our purpose in inspiring, even prompting people to do or say something intentionally that makes a genuine difference in another person’s life.

To tell someone you love them, that you’re thinking about them, to encourage, affirm and celebrate those important people in our life.

And this bigger promise opened up doors for Hallmark well beyond greeting cards.

So, this September, streamer Hallmark Movies Now becomes Hallmark+

So, What’s + About Hallmark +?

For $7.99 per month, or $79.99 per year, Hallmark+ offers coupons and rewards at Hallmark Gold Crown Stores, and “surprise gifts.”

As for entertainment, the streamer will feature exclusive scripted and unscripted fare, including holiday limited series (Holidazed, Mistletoe Murders), and a reality-competition show that pits hunk against hunk to find the next Hallmark leading man.

Called Finding Mr. Christmas, it’s executive-produced and hosted by Jonathan Bennett, who mentioned that he was gay twice during the TCA presentation, including:

Well, we’re looking for the next Hallmark holiday hunk, and I’m a Hallmark holiday hunk, and I’m pretty friggin’ gay, so …

There will also be unscripted, “aspirational” shows: Celebrations With Lacey Chabert; Ready, Set, Glow! with Wes Brown; Small Town Setup, with Ashley Williams; and Home Is Where the Heart Is, with Luke Macfarlane.

There’s a Southern-fried scripted drama (shot in Vancouver, Canada), called The Chicken Sisters, adapted from KJ Dell’Antonia’s New York Times bestselling novel, also a Reese’s Book Club selection. It stars Schuyler Fisk, Genevieve Angelson, Lea Thompson and Wendie Malick.

Finally, there’s a trio of films called Groomsmen, about three pals (Jonathan Bennett, Tyler Hynes, B.J. Britt) cavorting around Europe on a trip somehow connected to a wedding.

The Boy Question

Hallmark’s storytelling has long been female-driven. But, last year, Three Wise Men and a Baby, with three male leads (Tyler Hynes, Andrew Walker and Paul Campbell), was the highest-rated cable-TV movie of the entire year.

This year, there’s going to be a sequel, called Three Wiser Men and a Boy.

And, Hallmark is partnering with its hometown NFL team, the Kansas City Chiefs, for a football-themed story called Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story (more on that here), also starring Hynes.

I asked if they had anyone named Kelce in the film, and a bit later this announcement came out (click here if you can’t see it):

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Sounds like Hallmark execs have discovered what I could have told them: women like to watch men, and lots of women also like to watch men play football.

When I asked whether these projects represented a shift in the all-girls-all-the-time notion that’s driven Hallmark (and a lot of other entertainment lately), I got this answer from Lisa Hamilton Daly, executive vice-president, programming, for Hallmark Media:

I mean, you’re correct. I think that we realize that our viewers really like seeing men talk about their emotions, be fathers, be in love, have emotional experiences, have male bonding.

We’re actually going to be showing you a new trilogy today that we’re debuting on Hallmark+ that is male-led. I think that we have discovered that, you know, not just female stars attract our audiences.

So, Whither Hallmark?

It’s safe to say that this is not the Hallmark of 10 or even five years ago. Whether that’s good or bad is up to the viewer. It could be argued that political correctness is driving these big changes.

But, a reporter asked directly about that, and got a direct answer from Daly.

QUESTION: Hi. Over here behind her. Going back to what you were talking about earlier regarding reality TV programming and also the Great American Family of it all, Lifetime last year experimented with actually putting somewhat racy holiday movies on TV, or at least one of them. Would you ever consider going a little bit more to the left as GAF moves more to the right?

DALY: No.

It’s just as likely that Hallmark Channel is subject to the same tectonic shifts that are affecting all of TV. As cable-TV disrupted broadcast TV, now streaming is disrupting both.

But the streamers have their own problems. The sheer pressure to fill a firehose with content strains budgets and spreads thin the creative community — and COVID/strikes haven’t helped that any.

At the same time, a worsening economy not only impacts the box office, but people’s willingness to subscribe to streamers — and even if they do, to stick with them longer than it takes to binge their favorite show (the dreaded “churn”).

As it struggles to find its feet in this new environment, Hallmark is even thinking of resurrecting an old friend.

Said Daly:

We are currently figuring out how we’re going to bring back Hallmark Hall of Fame. It is an ongoing conversation and we’re actively pursuing some projects right now, and then we’re going to figure out the best platforms to debut them on.

Stay tuned.