Hallmark Henry and Elizabeth on "When Calls the Heart."
While ratings for “When Calls the Heart” season 10 were strong, some fans have pointed out that they weren’t quite as high as season 9. Co-creator Brian Bird is responding to concerns about ratings, noting that comparing the two seasons is a bit of an “apples and oranges” situation, and that Hallmark has been quite pleased with season 10.
Season 9 Did Have Higher Ratings, But Bird Said Comparing It to Season 10 Is ‘Apples & Oranges’
In an interview with James Lott Jr. of JLJ Media, Bird talked about how, despite cable ratings being down for everyone, the series is still doing quite well in its tenth season.
At about 22:30 into the interview, Bird said that ratings for cable shows in general are down by about 30%, and season 10 still did well when taking that into consideration.
“It’s a bit of apples and oranges to compare our numbers from season 10 to season 9 because we aired you know much earlier in the year…” he said. “The fact that we are maybe 10 to 15% down in the numbers, when everybody else is 30% down, is huge.”
According to TV Series Finale, the show’s numbers were slightly lower in season 10 than season 9. Season 10 live+same day viewing (including same-day DVR playback) ranged from a low of 1.72 million for the second episode to a high of 2.289 million for the finale. Most episodes were in the 1.8 to 1.9 million range, just shy of 2 million. In contrast, every episode in season 9 had over 2 million viewers, with a high of 2.545 million for episode 8 and 2.509 million for the season 9 finale. (Season 8, by contrast, had a high of 2.792 million viewers for the finale, but in general the weekly viewers were roughly similar to season 9.)
Overall, season 10 averaged 1.898 million viewers per episode and a 0.12 demographic rating for ages 18-49. Season 9 averaged 2.287 million viewers per episode and a 0.15 demographic rating. Season 9 did air earlier in the year, which Bird said partially accounts for the differences.
When one viewer wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter) that they didn’t think “When Calls the Heart” would see the high ratings it once enjoyed again, Bird disagreed.
He wrote: “Many have said as much several seasons during the run of the show, and yet #HopeValley still stands. To paraphrase Twain, ‘the reports of our demise have been greatly exaggerated.'”
Bird Said Hallmark Is Pleased with the Show’s Performance
Bird added that Hallmark was pleased with how the show did in its tenth season.
“We’re not down in the live plus three plus 7; we’re still getting three million people a week watching us when you count all the DVR runs…” Bird said. “Hallmark our patron is very happy with our numbers… Every Sunday night, we have been the most-watched scripted show during our run for the last three seasons… The success metric is there for this show to continue. We feel really positive about season 11.”
Hallmark announced in a press statement (which Bird shared on Facebook) that “When Calls the Heart” helped Hallmark be the top-watched entertainment cable network for total viewers in both total day numbers and primetime numbers. The season 10 finale was the most-watched episode among total viewers too (along with other groups like women, people 18+, women 55+, and households.)
Season 10 overall was the most-watched original program on entertainment cable among total viewers. The numbers were based on Nielsen ratings.
Bird has also addressed fan questions on social media, personally speaking to concerns about the ratings.
One Heartie on X (formerly known as Twitter) told Bird that it seemed like a lot of viewers had opted out of the show after the big course change it made in season 10 by ending Lucas and Elizabeth’s relationship.
Bird replied, in part: “Many have said as much a few times during the run of the show, and yet #HopeValley still stands. There was no retcon of anything. The continuity and canon of the show is decided upon by the creative team and they know it better than anyone. Some Viewers have their own hopes and dreams for what they think the show should be and sometimes only see things the way they want to see them. That is perfectly their right, but we stand by our right to make what we believe are the necessary choices for the future of the show.”
Bird also tweeted about Nielsen ratings and how they work, writing: “Actually anybody with a DVR provides viewership data that is taken into account. Cable and satellite providers now know when viewers watch a TV show or movie live or when they watch a digital recording. It’s a new day for ratings information.”
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