Hitting the Mark

The Hallmark Channel is claiming an eightfold increase in traffic to its Web site from January 2007 to this past January, a rise executives attribute to added features such as dancing bunnies and frolicking elves.

Not only is the site drawing eyeballs, but those users skew younger (median age 49) than the demo for the family friendly television channel (median age 57), according to Marvin Dorson, senior vice president of creative services for the channel.

In January, 414,000 unique users paid a visit to Hallmark’s Web sites. That was an increase in traffic of 36% from December 2007, and an 841% uptick from January 2007.

Executives wanted to give viewers a way to interact with its programming and brand, so it has been adding themed, interactive elements to Hallmarkchannel.com.

One of the first initiatives was an application called “Tell Us Your Story,” Dorson said. Viewers recorded memories of their mothers or true love stories, and Hallmark used the audio as narration for an animated version of the tale. The level of response was an indication of viewers’ desire for online content, Dorson said.

Another popular application was linked to the Delta Burke vehicle Bridal Fever. Web visitors could apply their own headshots to an animated dancing bride and groom, then send the image to friends via e-mail. A microsite also featured Burke giving dating dos and don’ts.

The current offering allows users to turn themselves into an animated bunny to forward to friends as an Easter card.

“Our audience really responds to these,” said Dorson.

Another popular venture was linked to the telefilm The Good Witch, executed in partnership with online game site Limbo (www.limbo.com). Viewers were directed there to play games and enter to win a prop from the film, a picture of star Catherine Bell’s “ancestor.” The promotion attracted 22,260 unique players and 635,000 plays, said Dorson, meaning viewers played an average of 29 times.

Due to these successes, Hallmark is expanding the types of content available at the site. As an example, an epilogue from the Tom Bosley film Charlie and Me was offered as a Web exclusive, as it wasn’t part of the final film.

“We’re just a small department, but we’re dedicated to building this out,” said Dorson of the Web applications.