November has just been a brutal month for the left-leaning news networks MSNBC and CNN. Many news outlets were making decisions on their futures hinged on the general election, and those results have not only provoked action but also anxiety. The Donald Trump victory has delivered a come-to-Jesus moment for the news divisions that have been shown to be rather hostile to evangelicals. Along with that, their audiences and customer bases have been fleeing.
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It is making for a decidedly un-merry holiday season, and we have received an indication of how inglorious things have become in the ratings. First, a bit of history to stir into this hot toddy of news.
It was years ago when I covered a deeply desperate attempt from Slate to declare that Hallmark Christmas movies were a tool of the newly risen Trump-inspired MAGA movement. This severely undercooked and factually deficient screed was as hysterical as it was mentally impacted. It had all of the hallmarks (forgive me) of a freshman term paper striving for social relevance while graciously graded with a C-.
“They all depict a fantasy world in which America has been Made Great Again,” went the prolix pontificating, suggesting that in Donald Trump’s first term avowed defense of Christmas, “no battalion has fired more rooty-toot artillery for him than the Hallmark Channel.” Understand how at the time, the Hallmark Channel had been cranking out these films on the regular during the Obama administration, and in Trump’s first year in office the network managed to produce one additional film past the prior year’s 20 titles. But of course facts have no purchase in the fertile ground of cultural outrage.
It’s all very Trumpian behavior. Hallmark Christmas movies channel and normalize a world in which the president can insult China, the press, Hillary Clinton, and the prime minister of the United Kingdom, and share anti-Muslim propaganda all in one day.
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Small matter that none of those elements were ever featured in the plotlines of the Hallmark films. Even smaller is how Muslims do not celebrate Christmas, and China clamps down on religion, but no matter.
Well, years have elapsed, and these dire “MAGA movies” just keep getting more desired. Hallmark now features these offerings across at least three of its channels, and other competitors such as FreeForm and The Lifetime Network deliver their versions of this frothy fare. Of course, Netflix is getting in on the action as well, going so far as to poach Hallmark Holiday stalwart actress Lacey Chabert for one of its productions, along with her fellow “Mean Girls” alum Lindsay Lohan!
The competition is not impacting things for the originating network, however. So far this early holiday season, Hallmark – while trotting out nearly three dozen of these titles – is enjoying some of the highest ratings it has seen for the Christmas slate of films. Just how popular are they? With the surge taking place these hot cocoa-infused films have surpassed the foundering fortunes of two of the prominent cable news networks.
Hallmark rose to be the third most-popular channel in primetime and total-day viewership in the week of Nov. 11 to 17, beating out both MSNBC and CNN.
The two news outlets have been enduring massive audience flight, with both hitting ratings lows not seen in decades. Now lest you feel this is a simple post-election lull felt across the industry, Fox News has been enjoying a surge in its audience share since November 5.
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The Hallmark Channel was third among all cable networks —falling only to Fox News and ESPN—with an average of 810,000 viewers in primetime and 479,000 viewers at any given point in the day.
The irony is that one of the bigger complaints about these Hallmark Christmas movies is the shows seem to be all the same while repeating a similar script. That is something that describes most everything seen on MSNBC and CNN as well, with the difference being the Hallmark films are not insulting half the audience.
Hilariously, Rachel Maddow just took a “pay cut” with her new contract last week, making “only” $25 million for one broadcast day a week. Considering these new audience figures, maybe Lacey Chabert should make like professional athletes and demand a larger contract, based on the comparables from the networks she is beating out this holiday season!
