Hallmark vs. Great American Family: Who’s Winning the Holiday Movie War?

Before we can look at what’s ahead, let’s look at where we stand right now. As already mentioned, Hallmark  holiday movies are still massively successful, generate tons of search interest, and are routinely the most-watched scripted program any and every night they air. All of that is true, even if total viewers are only nominally the same.

Comparing the first 32 Hallmark movies (including Hallmark Movies & Mysteries) of 2022 with the first 32 from 2021, ratings are — on average — down 130K. That’s not much considering cable’s natural attrition and whatever dent GAF has made (if any). This also doesn’t take into account that Hallmark struck an unprecedented deal with Peacock to make their films available on the streaming service for a limited time following their network debut. And don’t forget: Hallmark also scored its most-watched movie since 2019 in Three Wise Men and a Baby — which is also the most-watched TV movie of 2022 across all of cable.

Now let’s look at Great American Family.

Considering that no GAF movie charted when the network was known as GAC, this year is an improvement over 2021. However, Great American Family is far from overtaking or even tying Hallmark in the ratings. It’s also hard to think of what GAF could possibly do to boost their ratings. They already poached the competition’s biggest star and it didn’t make a sizable difference in Hallmark’s nor GAF’s ratings.

In order to surpass Hallmark, GAF first has to overtake Lifetime’s slate of holiday movies, which regularly feature Mario Lopez and Melissa Joan Hart. This is a far more attainable goal: Lifetime’s 2022 holiday movie viewer average is 428K, which is down from 603K in 2021. Still, GAF will have to work hard to compete with Lifetime, a network that has decades of name recognition and a reputation as a holiday movie destination, even if it’s drawing less viewers this year.

Hallmark’s lead in the ratings is so significant that it would probably take Hallmark fumbling in a major way for any other network to catch up with them. And considering how ambitious Hallmark’s 2022 slate is, with films that vary in genre and plot and tone and cast more than ever, the future looks merrier and brighter for the network. And as for GAF, they’re going to have to try a lot harder — and probably wait a while longer — to become a holiday tradition like Hallmark.