Crown Media Christmas at Castle Hart
Hallmark’s new Christmas movie starring Lacey Chabert, “Christmas at Castle Hart,” has broken a Hallmark viewing record. In terms of same-day, live viewing, it’s now the most-watched Hallmark movie of the year.
‘Christmas at Castle Hart’ Earned More than 3.3 Million Live Viewers, Surpassing ‘My Christmas Family Tree’
As of December 7’s weekend viewing numbers, “Christmas at Castle Hart” still holds the lead in viewers for all of Hallmark’s 2021 movies.
The Twitter account @SleepyKittyPaw, using statistics from ShowbuzzDaily, compiled the ratings for Hallmark’s Christmas movies as of December 7. The numbers are live viewers only from the movie’s premiere and do not include Live+2, Live+3, or other delayed viewings.
The new ratings revealed that “Christmas at Castle Hart” is now in first place as Hallmark’s most-watched movie of all of 2021, including both Christmas and non-Christmas movies. It surpassed “My Christmas Family Tree,” which had previously held the record.
On cable, YELLOWSTONE and 90 DAY FIANCE dominated the night, but Hallmark’s SISTER SWAP: A HOMETOWN HOLIDAY did well, finishing 5th overall, with 2.651 million viewers and a solid .31 in the demo, just missing 2021’s top 10 debuts, which now includes just one non-holiday title.
“Christmas at Castle Hart” brought in 3.31 million live viewers — the second movie of the year to break the three million live viewers record. “My Christmas Family Tree” was a close second at 3.27 million live viewers. “Taking a Shot at Love” is in third with 2.99 million viewers, starring Alexa PenaVega and Luke Macfarlane. Fourth place goes to “The Christmas Contest” starring Candace Cameron Bure, with 2.95 million live viewers. Fifth place goes to Tyler Hynes’ “An Unexpected Christmas” at 2.92 million viewers. Next is “A Kiss Before Christmas” (James Denton’s movie) with 2.79 million viewers. In seventh place is “Next Stop, Christmas” with 2.79 million, starring Christopher Lloyd, Lyndsy Fonseca, Chandler Massey, and Lea Thompson. “A Very Merry Bridesmaid” took eighth with 2.79 million, followed by “A Christmas Together with You” at 2.76 million and “The Nine Kittens of Christmas” at 2.68 million. “It Was Always You,” which starred Tyler Hynes and Erin Krakow, was knocked out of the top 10. That movie had 2.51 million viewers.
SleepyKittyPaw noted on Twitter that “Yellowstone” and “90 Day Fiance” still placed in the top on Sunday night, December 5. However, the first “Sister Swap” movie did place fifth on Sunday night, but didn’t get enough viewers to make it into Hallmark’s overall top ten. It received 2.65 million viewers, Showbuzz Daily shared. In comparison, “Yellowstone” had 7.283 million live viewers on the Paramount Network and “90 Day Fiance” had 2.22 million live viewers.
GAC Family’s Christmas Movies Haven’t Finished in the Top 150 for Live Viewers
Do have ratings info for GAC’s last week debut, ROYALLY WRAPPED FOR CHRISTMAS, starring Jen Lilley, which earned a .02 with 99,0000 debut viewers.
None of GAC’s movies, to date, have finished in cable’s top 150.
The Twitter account also noted that GAC Family’s Christmas movies haven’t yet finished in the top 150, according to Showbuzz Daily’s numbers. However, the account hasn’t shared the live viewing numbers for all of GAC Family’s premieres.
Jen Lilley’s “Royally Wrapped for Christmas” earned 99,000 live viewers for its premiere and then 69,000 viewers for the repeat. That’s about 168,000 viewers for its premiere day.
“A Kindhearted Christmas” did a little better with 129,000 viewers on its premiere showing, while “Much Ado About Christmas” hit 103,000 viewers for its premiere showing. Showbuzz Daily hasn’t shared numbers for “Christmas Is You,” “Jingle Bell Christmas,” “A Lot Like Christmas,” and “Angel Falls Christmas.”
GAC Family and GAC Living were started by Bill Abbott, ex-CEO of The Hallmark Channel. GAC Family is an evolution of the channel previously known as Great American Country.