Viewers had a nice attraction to Hallmark Channel's latest programming stunt.
The family-friendly service's "Countdown to Valentine's Day" fare reached over 30 million unduplicated watchers, inlcuding 6.7 million women 25 to 52 during its two-week run. Topped by original telefilm All of My Heart on Cupid's night, Countdown to Valentine's Day showcased over 300 hours of romance-themed fare from Jan. 31 through Feb. 15, inlcuding a quintet of original telefilms.
Those original movie premieres garnered 8.7 million unduplicated viewers, including 1.6 milion of the aforementioned demo. As a result, Hallmark, which pushed for its heartfelt strategy in the wake of another sterling Nielsen performance with its traditionsl "Countdown to Christmas" gambit, registered an 83% rise among households in the 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. time slot, when measured against the same time period a year ago. The network also rang up an 87% jump among viewers and 113% against women 25 to 54.
Countdown to Valentine’s Day culminated with top ratings for the Feb. 14 world premiere of All of My Heart, which earned a 2.7 rating. and 3 million viewers to become the highest-rated telecast of the day among total viewers and households and most-watched among the latter, excluding sports.
Starring Lacey Chabert, Brennan Elliott and Ed Asner, it also stands as the second-highest-rhousehold-rated original telefilm bow in all of cable thus far in 2015.
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“Between the immense popularity of Countdown to Christmas and now these results for our inaugural Countdown to Valentine’s Day, it is resoundingly clear that our viewers gravitate toward Hallmark Channel’s celebratory programming events,” said Michelle Vicary, executive vice president, programming & network publicity. “We look forward to giving our audience more of what they want and to building on our foundation of annual franchises celebrating a variety of special occasions and holidays throughout the year.”
