Hallmark finished 2021 with high Nielsen ratings

The cast of the Hallmark Movies and Mysteries film Christmas in my Heart. Holiday programming helped Crown Media achieve high Nielsen ratings in the fourth quarter of 2021. Pic credit: Crown Media

Hallmark Channel’s primetime helped make the network one of the most popular on television during the fourth quarter of 2021.

According to information released by the network and confirmed by Nielsen, the network was rated first among women ages 18 and above in primetime viewership on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights during the final three months of last year. Hallmark Channel’s Countdown to Christmas and Hallmark Movies and Mysteries Miracles of Christmas earned 54 million unduplicated views among the demographic.

Among total viewers, Hallmark Channel finished 10th for the year, according to Variety. This put it ahead of TBS and TLC (which tied for 15th place) and Bravo (which came in at 24th.

Crown Media’s other major network, Hallmark Movies and Mysteries, was 27th in terms of overall viewers, ahead of AMC (31st), VH1 (55th), and HBO (57th).

The network is also looking strong going into 2022. Its first original movie of the year, Where Your Heart Belongs, was the most-watched cable program of January 1.

Two shows canceled

Crown Media owns Hallmark Channel, Hallmark Movies and Mysteries, Hallmark Drama, and the streaming service Hallmark Movies Now. The company saw a change in leadership in 2020 when former CEO Bill Abbott left and was replaced by current CEO Wonya Lucas.

Though Crown Media continues to produce movies for Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies and Mysteries, in 2021, it canceled two of its TV shows, Good Witch and Home and Family.

It has two shows left, When Calls the Heart and Chesapeake Shores.

Season 9 of When Calls the Heart will premiere in March, though some fans say they aren’t interested in the show anymore. In the May Season 8 finale, the main character chose between two suitors. Some fans say she chose the wrong man.

Some When Calls the Heart fans are unenthusiastic for Season 9 after the Season 8 finale. — Some When Calls the Heart fans are unenthusiastic about Season 9. Pic credit: Ursula Elrod/Facebook

Chesapeake Shores finished its fifth season in October. There has been no word from Hallmark as to whether it will return for a sixth season.

Moving forward

Crown Media has not announced any replacements for the two shows it took off the air. Instead, the company has been promoting its original movies.

During the last three months of 2021, the company released a total of 41 movies: 30 for Hallmark Channel, nine for Hallmark Movies and Mysteries, and two for Hallmark Movies now.

Hallmark Channel has announced it will premiere four new films in January and three in February.

Hallmark Movies and Mysteries released the drama North to Home on January 9. It will premiere a new installment in its popular Aurora Teagarden Mysteries series on February 22. Based on the books by Charlaine Harris (who also wrote the books that were the basis for the HBO series True Blood), the movies star Candace Cameron Bure and Marilu Henner.