Inside Hallmark’s Holiday Movie Empire

As you’re reading this story, revelers are still savoring the sights, sounds, smells, and songs of the 2024 holiday season. But over at the Hallmark Channel, it’s already December 2025.

That’s the way the gingerbread crumbles when you’re America’s best-known manufacturer of warm and cozy holiday movies that millions of viewers gather ‘round their nearest screens to watch when the weather outside is frightful.

For the record, living in the future is a feature—not a bug—of working at Hallmark. “We start developing our movies a year or two out,” Lisa Hamilton Daly, the cable network’s evp of programming, revealed to ADWEEK, happily comparing her workplace to Santa’s North Pole hub. “There are highly skilled elves in this workshop.”

Hallmark is definitely enjoying a holiday-assisted ratings high. In November, it was the fourth most-watched basic cable network in total viewers—a month otherwise dominated by presidential election news. It also finished in the top 10 networks among the prized adults 25-54 demo, confirming its multi-generational appeal. Meanwhile, a move into live events—including cruise ships and bus tours—has allowed the network’s devoted audience to meet their favorite performers in person.

And Daly recently helped oversee the addition of a new wing to Hallmark’s existing workshop. In September, the network launched the Hallmark+ streaming service, which replaced the on-demand Hallmark Movies Now platform. “That was an idea that was in play when I got here,” said the Netflix veteran, who departed that streaming giant for Hallmark in early 2021.

Not for nothing, but her previous employer is among the many streamers getting more active in the holiday movie genre, and the debut of Hallmark+ is a clear sign that Hallmark intends to keep up with the changing seasons as audiences migrate away from linear to digital platforms. “Part of our mission is to get our brand out there, and we’re trying to find different ways to do it,” Daly acknowledged.

The ghost of Christmas (movies) past

Before we get too far into how it’s going at 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 the faith-based Odyssey Network. A rebrand followed in 2001, and eight years later, Bill Abbott ascended to the CEO’s chair and set the channel on its course to be the first 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 pulling an ad featuring a same-sex wedding—with “building the base” of the brand that she joined three years ago. “It was an amazing place to step into in terms of how much the audience loves the network and our talent,” she says. “I see myself as just carrying on that legacy.” (Abbot is currently the president and CEO of Great American Media, which has constructed 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 start airing well before those stockings are hung by the chimney with care. Hallmark’s 2024 countdown, for example, started on Oct. 18 and consists of a grand total of 32 films featuring all of 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 made an effort 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 is also exploring stories about characters in different “life stages” than the looking-for-love 20- and 30-something singles that tend to be front and center. Case in point: Holiday Mismatch reunites Sabrina the Teenage Witch co-stars Beth Broderick and Caroline Rhea as battling moms who become friends after their adult children fall in love.

“These things present themselves,” Daly said, adding that the Hallmark programming team doesn’t have a “quota” when it comes to pursuing more diverse productions. “We make so many movies, so you have to say, ‘What else can we do and how else can we do it?’”

(Earlier this year, Daly was named in an age discrimination lawsuit brought by former Hallmark casting director Penny Perry that alleged the network was looking to “replace” its “old talent” with younger actors. In a statement provided to ADWEEK, Hallmark denied the suit’s claims. “Hallmark continues to consistently cast and maintain positive, productive relationships with talented actors representing a broad spectrum of diversity, including actors who span many age groups and cross generations,” the statement noted.)

Stream the halls

Hallmark+ will be part of that “what else can we do” initiative as it allows the network to navigate its own final frontier: unscripted television. Celebrations With Lacey Chabert was one of the streamer’s September launch titles and features the Mean Girls star organizing parties for everyday heroes. That was followed by the Jonathan Bennett-hosted Finding Mr. Christmas, which sets out to discover the next Hallmark holiday hunk. “We’re playing with what feels a little different and a little more exciting to draw eyeballs,” Daly said, noting that they’ve already seen a positive response among younger viewers to these early dips into reality TV waters.

Daly confirmed that all three of those unscripted shows—along with original series like the family drama The Chicken Sisters and the star-studded limited series Holidazed—will be exclusive to the new streaming service for the immediate future. “They will be on the channel at some future time, but we want to give them a long runway for people to sample,” she notes, adding that Hallmark+ will also house an extensive library of movies from Christmases past, as well as a back catalog of mysteries and non-holiday rom-coms. 

This year’s Countdown to Christmas lineup, though, is streaming only on Peacock. Hallmark signed a deal that makes the films available on NBCUniversal’s streamer—as well as its VOD partners—three days after they premiere on the cable network. Meanwhile, certain select older holiday titles won’t be available on Hallmark+ just yet but are available on Netflix. Daly said it’s all part of the network’s “test and learn phase” in the wide world of streaming.

“It’s a brave new world out there,” she emphasizes. “I’m constantly talking to people about the types of partnerships and windowing opportunities that people would never have done in the past.”

O Hallmark Night

Daly is also understanding—and even encouraging—of the Hallmark talent who have been embarking on their own explorations of the streaming space. Chabert, for example, is currently starring in the viral Netflix holiday movie Hot Frosty, which Daly saw and describes as “very cute,” though not exactly in Hallmark’s specific holiday lane.

“Netflix and, to some extent, Lifetime are going a little more into ‘sexy Christmas,’” she said. “That’s not something we’re going to be doing. We have our handsome men, but it’s a much more wholesome kind of family approach to romance and love. There’s a lane for everybody here, and ours is a clear lane that we know our audience really appreciates.”

That appreciation is mutual. Daly made clear that the Hallmark workshop is a viewer-focused environment that wants to be the gift that keeps on giving to its fanbase. “We have this core of love, emotion, and connectivity at the heart of the brand,” said the self-professed Christmas buff, who confesses she’s still in the process of setting up her holiday display.

“I literally have a storage unit for all my Christmas stuff,” Daly joked. “So I basically have ended up at the right place.”