Even post-election people are still watching cable news programming at unusually high levels, but also garnering attention is viewership of the Hallmark Channel, which has become one of the highest rated non-news channels.
TV critic Gwen Ihnat writes for A.V. Club, a site devoted to pop culture and what’s captivating the public today. She credits the network’s smart writing, strong characters, good plot lines, and inspired casting. “The people they cast are familiar faces from shows like soap operas, so if you miss Jack Wagner from General Hospital, you can probably find him in a Hallmark Channel movie,” she says. The romance authors are familiar and comfortable to the target audience, and right on target in meeting their tastes, she says.
Christmas saw an explosion in viewership as the channel aired back-to-back mostly original movies, catapulting Hallmark channel into the stratosphere of top-rated channels the likes of ESPN and Fox News. Even without their Christmas movie marathon, Hallmark has increased their viewership by 9% this year.