New York, NY, Jan. 8, 2019 – On the heels of holiday ratings sensation, “Countdown to Christmas”, Hallmark Channel wrapped up the final months of 2018 as the highest-rated and most-watched cable network for the entire Fourth Quarter among Women 18-49 and Women 25-54. In addition to crushing the cable competition, Hallmark Channel out-performed the broadcast networks on Saturday nights, delivering more Households and Women 25-54 than ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox in the 8-10p time period throughout the nine-week “Countdown to Christmas” run. The network also beat all of cable and broadcast among Women 25-54 delivery every Saturday night in the same two-hour time slot for the entirety of Fourth Quarter.
The momentum from the holiday season continued into the New Year with Saturday night’s debut of “Winter Castle”, which marked Hallmark Channel’s first new original movie premiere of 2019 and the kick-off to the network’s “Winterfest” programming event. The film averaged a 2.9 Household rating and 3 million Total Viewers to become the highest-rated and most-watched cable program of the week, excluding news & sports. The premiere followed the close of Hallmark Channel’s ninth annual “Countdown to Christmas” holiday programming event, which propelled the network to be #1 on cable among Women 18-49 and Women 25-54 for 8 consecutive weeks and reached 68 million unduplicated viewers.
Key Nielsen Highlights – “Countdown to Christmas”
- Women 18-49 and Women 25-54 for the entire Fourth Quarter
- Was #1 cable network among Women 18-49 and Women 25-54 for 8 consecutive weeks
- Network’s “Countdown to Christmas” Saturday night original movie premieres averaged a 3.3 Household rating, 3.5 million Total Viewers, and 641,000 Women 25-54, making Hallmark Channel the most-watched network among Households and Women 25-54 in the 8-10p time period among broadcast and cable
- Delivered more Households and Women 25-54 than all four broadcast networks in the Saturday, 8-10p time period during the nine-week “Countdown to Christmas” run
- Reached an unduplicated audience of 68 million viewers
- Internationally, Hallmark Channel’s “Countdown to Christmas” original holiday movie premieres on W Network propelled network to be the #1 most-watched network in Canada on weekends[1]
Source: Nielsen, Oct. 1, 2018 – Jan. 1, 2019
Key Nielsen Highlights – “Winter Castle”
- The January 5 premiere of “Winter Castle” was the highest-rated and most-watched program of the week[2] and delivered more Households, Women 18-49 and Women 25-54 than ABC, CBS, and NBC
- Additionally, “Winter Castle” propelled Hallmark Channel to be among Households and Total Viewers
Source: Nielsen, Dec. 31, 2018 – Jan. 6, 2019
