The holiday season is Hallmark’s Super Bowl.
This year alone, Hallmark has 80 hours of holiday-themed original programming, including two unscripted series, two scripted series, a holiday special, and 24 movies with titles like “The Snow Must Go On” and “Christmas at the Catnip Cafe,” which will run from mid-October through Christmas.
The company is also expanding into experiential businesses, including Hallmark Christmas Cruises and the Hallmark Christmas Experience Festival in Kansas City, Missouri, where it is headquartered.
“I think this is one of the best business decisions they’ve ever made. They’re expanding there because they have to,” Anjali Bal, associate professor of marketing at Babson College, said of Hallmark’s business experience. “This allows for a direct connection between consumers and brands in a way that movies cannot provide.”
It may seem like a far cry from Hallmark’s roots as a supplier of greeting cards, but company executives say the holiday spirit evoked by the company’s cards, ornaments and gift wrap is reflected in the type of content it produces.
And that wealth of content has turned Hallmark into a Christmas juggernaut, inspiring competitors like Lifetime and Netflix to produce holiday romantic comedies in the vein of Hallmark movies.
But Darren Abbott, Hallmark’s chief brand officer, doesn’t seem too worried.
“There’s a reason why other people are doing this, and that’s because consumers are asking for this,” he said.
Hallmark’s tradition is rooted in celebrating the holidays and Christmas, and “no other company or brand has anything like that,” he said.
countdown to christmas
Hallmark was founded in 1910 by an 18-year-old postcard entrepreneur and has built its brand over the years through cards, holiday ornaments and retail stores.
The family-owned company expanded into entertainment in 1951 with the televised Hallmark Hall of Fame. Today, Studio City-based Hallmark Media operates three cable networks, including , which debuted in 2001, and a subscription streaming service.
Hallmark has aired holiday movies virtually since the cable channel’s inception, but in 2009 it doubled its holiday season airings and launched Countdown to Christmas, a 24-hour-a-day programming block focused solely on holiday content. This tradition has been going on for 16 years.
Hallmark produces about 100 movies a year, both holiday and non-holiday movies.
Hallmark, a privately held company, does not disclose its financials, but executives acknowledge that the holiday season is a key driver of entertainment revenue.
Analysts said Hallmark’s expansion into entertainment is a way to stay in the zeitgeist for multiple generations and diversify its business beyond just cards and retail products.
“Their television stations and experiential businesses allow them to stay culturally relevant while staying true to their origins,” says marketing professor Bal.
Holiday programs, and Hallmark’s refreshing and romantic fare, are becoming increasingly popular among viewers.
According to Nielsen’s U.S. TV data, holiday specials typically account for more than a third of total movie viewing time in December, for both old and new movies. This percentage has remained fairly stable over the past three years, but reached 42% in December 2021.
Hallmark’s TV viewership has also been slowly increasing in the months leading up to the holiday season. Hallmark had 1% of total terrestrial TV and streaming viewers in October, rising to 1.2% in November, according to Nielsen data. During the same period, competitor A&E, which owns Lifetime, was unchanged at 0.9%.
Hallmark’s feel-good movies typically resonate with audiences across the country. They always end with a happy ending (), with romantic misunderstandings, financial difficulties, and family drama all resolved. The film has been criticized over the years, but experts say there is still room for improvement.
“These movies are designed to appeal to a very broad audience,” said Kit Hughes, an associate professor of film and media studies at Colorado State University, who watched every Hallmark movie released in 2022 for research on portrayals of small business owners. “Those are good consensus movies.”
To grow its audience and expand the types of stories it tells, Hallmark is increasingly turning to brand partnerships.
Last year, the company released a film centered around: This year he released a piece about Buffalo Bills fans. Hallmark is also partnering with the Walt Disney Company to release a holiday movie set at Walt Disney World next year. The film stars Lacey Chabert, who Abbott describes as Hallmark’s “Queen of Christmas.”
Meet famous stars on a cruise ship
Hallmark’s foray into the cruise business may seem strange, but it follows a long tradition for entertainment companies.
Create real-world experiences with your fans, whether on a ship, in a theme park, or on stage. Disney operates its own cruise ships that promote the company’s classic characters as part of a larger tourism initiative.
Last year, Hallmark launched its first Hallmark Christmas Cruise on Norwegian Cruise Line. The first cruise from Miami to the Bahamas sold out before a planned television marketing campaign. Abbott said Hallmark had to add a second cruise because it had a waiting list of 70,000 people.
For this year’s cruise from Miami to Cozumel, Mexico, Hallmark had to book a larger ship to keep up with demand. During the November cruise, participants participated in a variety of Christmas festivities, including ornament-making workshops and cookie decorating, and interacted with Hallmark stars in a variety of on-stage games.
The cruise also spawned an unscripted Hallmark show that focused on several participants’ experiences and interactions with Hallmark actors.
Although many are less famous, they have appeared in dozens of Hallmark holiday movies over the years and have a loyal fan base.
Mr. Abbott took the cruise last year and said that although he is not a “cruise buff,” he was fascinated by seeing how the guests interacted with the stars.
“We’re taking a bit of a break from what’s going on in the world right now, and these experiences kind of hit it at the right time and the right place,” he said.
