It already looks a lot like Christmas on the Hallmark Channel.
Hallmark says 12 million viewers have watched its Countdown to Christmas movies this season, even though the lineup only started Oct. 16.
Forbes says five of the network’s new movies have broken into the top 200 most-watched cable programs of their respective weeks. The Hallmark movies beat out programs such as college football games.
The number comes from Nielsen data cited by Hallmark and covers television viewers. It does not include people who watched through Hallmark+, which is the channel’s companion streaming service.
Last year, the network’s holiday movies reached 38 million viewers over the full 70-day season, according to Forbes.
Among this season’s new movies, “Forgotten Holiday,” starring Janel Parrish and Daniel Lissing, has drawn the largest live audience so far, with 1.5 million viewers, Forbes reported. Its viewership numbers were in line with ESPN’s Houston-Utah college football game.
Six new movies have aired before the Forbes story was published, and there are still more than 24 new movies to go!
