Heavy Hallmark Media announces layoffs
Hallmark Media, the parent organization of Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, has kicked off 2024 with some major changes behind the scenes.
Despite rising to the top of the ratings as the most-watched entertainment network on cable TV last year, per a recent Hallmark press release, the company laid off four key executives on January 10, 2024, according to Deadline. The changes come five months after former Hallmark Media CEO Wonya Lucas announced she would soon be stepping down from her role by the end of 2023.
Hallmark is not the only media company going through restructuring and layoffs, though. In addition to layoffs occurring at media giants like Amazon Prime and MGM Studios, per The Wrap, former Hallmark Media CEO Bill Abbott’s network, Great American Family, announced its own layoffs on January 9.
Here’s what you need to know:
All 4 Hallmark Media Executives Who Were Laid Off Had Been Hired by Former CEO Wonya Lucas
GettyHallmark Cards CEO Mike Perry and Hallmark Media CMO Lara Richardson at Hallmark Channel’s “Countdown To Christmas” Premiere Event in October 2023
Though one insider told Deadline that “major cutbacks” were happening at Hallmark, the only confirmed layoffs were to four top executives at the network: Chief Marketing Officer Lara Richardson, Chief People Officer Pamela Wolfe, EVP Research Strategy Robin Thomas and Head of Distribution Judi Lopez.
All four women were hired during Lucas’ tenure as CEO and reported to her. When Lucas announced her impending departure in August, the company said Mike Perry, CEO of parent company Hallmark Cards Inc., would work closely with the the executive team to manage the transition and future planning.
According to Brand Innovators, Richardson — a former marketing exec at Discovery Channel — was Hallmark Media’s first Chief Marketing Officer in a decade when she joined the team in December 2020, not long after Lucas began.
Meanwhile, Thomas was Lucas’ first hire in October 2020, according to Multichannel News, which named her one of its 2023 LA Wonder Women at a ceremony last May, honoring female TV executives making a “lasting impact on their businesses and the industry.”
Wolfe joined Hallmark in November 2021 and was included a year later in Cablefax’s list of the TV industry’s “Most Powerful Women,” highlighting that she “introduced extensive, monthlong, third-party training courses as a means to invest in the individual and professional growth of the company’s leadership teams.”
Lopez started at Hallmark in December 2021, per Multichannel News, after 13 years at Fuse Media. At Hallmark, she was tasked with overseeing “every aspect of sales, negotiations, strategic planning, and marketing efforts” related content distribution, the outlet reported.
In a statement provided to Deadline, a Hallmark spokesperson explained that Hallmark Media’s organizational changes represent “a new, more streamlined structure.”
“As such, some executive leadership roles were eliminated,” the statement said, “while new and expanded roles were created in order to forge new opportunities that will strengthen our focus on our core, and build new capabilities for our consumers and viewers. The Hallmark Media business remains committed to creating compelling content and Hallmark Channel recently closed out the entire 2023 year as the #1 most-viewed cable entertainment network among key demos, demonstrating a clear pathway for continued success.”
Great American Family Slashes 13 Jobs in New Year Layoffs
GettyGreat American Family CEO Bill Abbott and actress Candace Cameron Bure pose for a photo with service members on November 15, 2023 in Joint Base Lewis McChord, Washington
The executive Lucas replaced in 2020, former Hallmark Media CEO Bill Abbott, went on to launch his own competing network the following year, Great American Family. He lured several former Hallmark stars to move networks, including Candace Cameron Bure, Trevor Donovan, Danica McKellar, Jen Lilley and, most recently, Cameron Mathison.
On January 9, Deadline reported that Great American Family had cut “roughly” 13 jobs, including its Chief Marketing Officer Loren Schwartz, Chief Financial Officer Max Pinigin, and VP of Corporate Communications Angela Sullivan.
In a statement to Deadline, the network pointed to its recent merger with Sony’s Pure Flix streaming and on-demand service as a reason for the layoffs, trying to create “synergies” between the two organizations.
Great American Family says it has spent the “12 consecutive months as TV’s fastest growing linear channel,” but its ratings remain small compared to Hallmark’s viewership. For instance, according to Decider, Bure’s big holiday movie of 2023, “My Christmas Hero,” premiered on the Friday after Thanksgiving, November 24, to 371,000 live viewers. That same night, Hallmark Channel premiere of “Holiday Road” attracted 2.3 million viewers, according to Forbes.