When Henry Schleiff took over as president and CEO of Crown Media Holdings, one of his goals was to show advertisers the tremendous value the market the company served had. Schleiff's other major goal when taking over Hallmark was to lower the viewership age from around 60 to the 25-54 demo. He's already accomplished that in a relatively short time.
He has quietly went about his job, not only trying to tell people about it, but showing it through the continuing growth of the viewership the Hallmark Channel enjoys.
In the 25 to 54 demo, Hallmark has become one of the top ten networks for that demographic, with an average of over 1 million weekly viewers.
The original movies they offer double that average, and their Holiday movies score their highest ratings.
To show that Schleiff and his team are doing their job right, ad revenues for 2007 increased to $245.9 million - 28 percent over the $204 million they generated in 2006.
Marketing head for the network, Laura Masse, said the company will also be offering cross-platform sponsorships where advertisers can brand on the network, Web, mobile, and of course in their 3,700 stores they have nationwide.
Strategy Going Forward
The company is doing two other major things to generate more viewers and interest on the Hallmark Channel. The first is producing 30 original movies for the channel by the end of 2008. Along with that they're also agressively pursuing rights to programming, as they already grabbed "The Golden Girls," which will be part of their programming in February 2009.
Second, they've made a deal with Disney to get 99 classic movies they'll add to the Hallmark Channel lineup this year.
Commenting on the growth and potential going forward, CEO Henry Schleiff said, "This is a testament to our success, and our programming is a little bit of a testament to what the marketplace is searching for. Our audience has assets, not allowances."
He's right. I like this business in the years ahead. I think they'll grow steady and solid for a long time to come.
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