‘The Wedding Veil Expectations’ vs Original Trilogy: Here’s How Ratings Compared

Hallmark "The Wedding Veil Expectations"

“The Wedding Veil Expectations” has rocketed Hallmark to the top of cable programs in terms of same-day viewing numbers. The new movie didn’t bring in quite as many viewers as the first trilogy in 2022, but it still broke records for the weekend.

Here’s a closer look at the movie’s numbers.

‘The Wedding Veil Expectations’ Was the Most-Watched Program of the Week on Entertainment Cable

“The Wedding Veil Expectations” broke away from the competition during its premiere, Hallmark shared with Heavy in a press release. According to Nielsen live and same-day viewing numbers, “Expectations” averaged 2.5 million total viewers and 291,000 women viewers between the ages of 25-54.

The first movie in the sequel trilogy was the most-watched entertainment cable program of the week in terms of not only total viewers, but also women ages 18+. It was the most-watched cable program on the day of its premiere in terms of total viewers and many sub-categories, like women 25-54, people 25-54, women 18-49, and more.

Hallmark wrote in its press release: “Additionally, the movie elevated Hallmark Channel to be the most watched entertainment cable net of the week in both Total Day and Primetime.”

The First Trilogy Still Had More Same-Day Viewers Than ‘Expectations’

Although “The Wedding Veil Expectations” did very well, it didn’t surpass or quite match the number of same-day viewers that the first trilogy of movies achieved.

A press release from Hallmark shared that the debut movie in last year’s trilogy remains “Hallmark Channel’s most-watched non-holiday movie in over a decade among Households, Women 18+, and Total Viewers.”

According to live/same-day numbers provided by ShowBuzzDaily, “The Wedding Veil Expectations” received 2.484 million same-day/live viewers and hit 0.21 in the coveted 18-49 demographic.

According to ShowBuzzDaily’s numbers, last year’s first “The Wedding Veil” movie brought in 3.394 million live viewers, and hit .29 in the 18-49 demographic, beating out all the Hallmark movies for 2021. The second movie, “The Wedding Veil Legacy,” had 2.93 million viewers and the third movie “The Wedding Veil Unveiled” had 2.59 million viewers. This means all of the first three movies had more same-day viewers than “The Wedding Veil Expectations.” However, the third movie was close in total viewing numbers to the new 2023 film.

Compared to all the Hallmark movies of 2022, “The Wedding Veil Expectations” would place ninth among the top-viewed movies, beating out “A Holiday Spectacular” which brought in 2.43 million viewers and “Where Your Heart Belongs,” which brought in 2.42 million viewers.

Although “Expectations” didn’t meet the break-out hit numbers of the first “Wedding Veil” movie from last year, the numbers were still a strong showing for a non-holiday film. The Twitter account SleepyKittyPaw, which is known for sharing accurate information about Hallmark productions, tweeted that the movie’s .21 rating in the 18-49 demographic was “better than all but 3 of Hallmark’s 2022 titles.”

Lifetime’s Reba McEntire special, which also premiered the same day as “The Wedding Veil Expectations,” only brought in 1.551 million live/same-day viewers, according to ShowBuzzDaily’s numbers.

The only shows that outperformed “Expectations” on Saturday night were NFL sports programs. Although “Expectations” didn’t match the numbers of last year’s “Wedding Veil” films, it outperformed every non-sports program on the night of its premiere.

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