President and CEO at Hallmark Media Wonya Lucas speaks onstage right through Hallmark Media’s star-studded kickoff of ‘Countdown To Christmas’ with a distinct screening of “A Vacation Impressive” that includes the arena well-known Rockettes at Radio Town Song Corridor on October 20, 2022 in New York Town.
Mike Coppola | Getty Pictures
Wonya Lucas landed a role because the CEO of the Hallmark Channel with two directives: Stay its logo intact and disrupt its playbook. On the identical time.
Since mid-2020, Lucas has been the CEO of Hallmark Media, the father or mother of the cable-TV community recognized for its romantic storylines and feel-good vacation motion pictures. In that point, Hallmark has assorted its casts and storylines — and adjusted how the channel itself is shipped as subscribers flee for streaming products and services. And he or she’s completed all of it whilst staying true to the Hallmark logo, which Lucas mentioned is at all times on her thoughts.
“My first function used to be figuring out the target market, however then additionally figuring out what I known as the chance target market,” Lucas mentioned in an interview with CNBC.
Lucas is a veteran within the media trade. She held peak jobs at Turner Broadcasting networks like TNT and TBS and likewise on the Discovery Channel — years ahead of they had been introduced in combination within the Warner Bros. Discovery merger — in addition to The Climate Channel and TV One. She additionally spent portions of her profession at the logo control facet of family shopper corporations like Coca-Cola and Clorox.
She credit that logo experience for her center of attention and luck at Hallmark. Her colleagues additionally level to that logo awareness, whilst she makes adjustments at Hallmark.
Content material laws
Hallmark rakes in a few of its absolute best rankings and buzz right through its “Countdown to Christmas,” which starts in October with weekly vacation content material.
Courtesy: Hallmark Media
Underneath Lucas, Hallmark’s “Countdown to Christmas” film slate has an increasing number of modified.
This previous season one in all its maximum a success motion pictures, “3 Sensible Males and a Child,” a play at the Nineteen Eighties flick “3 Males and a Child,” did not function a plot that revolved round romance in any respect. However the storyline departure paid off: The film about 3 brothers caring for a thriller child right through the vacation season used to be the most-watched cable-TV film of the yr, averaging 3.6 million audience, consistent with Nielsen.
“I feel she’s very dedicated to drawing in a brand new target market and figuring this out. I got here right here for Wonya as a result of she shared her imaginative and prescient of items with me, and I mentioned, ‘Sure, I’m signing on for that,’” mentioned Lisa Hamilton Daly, Hallmark’s head of programming.
Different movies incorporated “Christmas on the Golden Dragon,” in regards to the circle of relatives in the back of a Midwestern Chinese language eating place; “Hanukkah on Rye,” a romance about two competing deli house owners; and “All Saints Christmas,” a story about an R&B singer heading house for the vacations.
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Christmas on the Golden Dragon.
Hallmark Media
“On the finish of the day,” Lucas mentioned, “the shopper wishes or wants to peer themselves within the love tale.”
When Lucas turned into CEO of Hallmark Media, which additionally contains the Hallmark Films and Mysteries community, it had additionally been popping out from beneath a firestorm of controversy. Previous in 2020, Invoice Abbott, the longtime CEO who had helped flip the community right into a behemoth, left the corporate following an argument over advertisements that includes a same-sex marriage ceremony rite. Going through drive from a conservative workforce, Hallmark pulled the commercials. It reversed route in a while after a gay-rights advocacy workforce attempted to release an promoting boycott.
Neither Hallmark nor Abbott have commented on why he left, however the controversy did stir questions in regards to the community’s content material.
Zola advert of same-sex marriage.
Courtesy of Zola
Range used to be of the maximum significance when Lucas took over. Hallmark were criticized for its movies and sequence continuously ruled through storylines of hetero romance that includes basically white casts. That intended that enormous swaths of the target market in search of extra relatable content material may really feel close out .
“Her towering strengths met precisely what we had to do within the industry, at a time once we had been looking to increase the content material and storytelling,” mentioned Mike Perry, the CEO of Hallmark Playing cards, the father or mother corporate of Hallmark Media.
“We wanted any person robust strategically and any person who has a willing perception into our viewer. That is Wonya,” Perry mentioned.
Tapping into the emblem, Lucas considered what they may draw from the greeting card line and its verticals, similar to Mahogany, Hallmark’s decades-old line of Black American playing cards and merchandise.
Throughout Lucas’ brief tenure, there were extra movies focused on self-love, and others with storylines similar to a plus-size girl discovering love and a circle of relatives serving to their autistic son right through the vacations. Even if storylines are morphing, and the casts, whilst nonetheless chock stuffed with fan favorites like “Imply Women” and “Birthday party of 5” superstar Lacey Chabert, have modified, Lucas and Hamilton Daly proceed to paintings to stay the content material true to Hallmark’s love-centric logo.
Lisa Hamilton Daly, Hallmark’s head of programming (a long way left) and Wonya Lucas (a long way proper) with actors Holly Robinson Peete and Lyriq Bent, who costarred in “Our Christmas Adventure,” a 2021 movie about circle of relatives with an autistic son.
Courtesy: Hallmark Media
Hallmark may be leaning extra into content material during the yr, similar to a summer time film theme — final yr used to be shuttle, this yr is weddings — and on more than a few seasons but even so the iciness vacations. This month is “Loveuary” at the Hallmark Channel, with motion pictures concerned about love, however every with a twist, similar to one a couple of chocolatier rumored to have the recipe to discovering real love, and any other about two strangers on a street travel understanding new priorities.
Hamilton Daly, who got here to the cable-TV community after operating because the director of scripted sequence at Netflix, wired it used to be the trade coming beneath Lucas that used to be her sole reason why for taking the bounce.
“That used to be transparent to me. There had to be extra variety in each casting and storylines,” Hamilton Daly mentioned. She pointed to “3 Sensible Males and a Child” and the brand new sequence known as “Trip,” a drama a couple of circle of relatives within the rodeo that has “Yellowstone” vibes, as examples of that push.
“We took the leash off of a few of our creators and informed them to stick throughout the bumpers of the emblem, however have extra leeway to think about tales another way,” mentioned Hamilton Daly. “We additionally introduced in new manufacturers, from other puts that I knew ahead of.”
Distribution variety
Because the selection of subscribers leaving the pay-TV universe speeded up lately, it used to be necessary to verify Hallmark’s expanded target market had get right of entry to to its content material.
However even with successes like “3 Sensible Males and a Child,” and Hallmark’s robust vacation season rankings, the community nonetheless noticed a decline in viewership yr over yr as cord-cutting ramped up.
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3 Sensible Males and a Child
Hallmark Media
In December, a height rankings month for Hallmark, the community averaged about 1.3 million audience, down about 40% from 5 years previous. General in 2022, Hallmark Channel averaged 980,000 audience, down 20% from 2018.
Nonetheless, Hallmark instructions one of the vital absolute best rankings on leisure cable TV. “Countdown to Christmas” starts as early as October, and the channel is the top-watched leisure cable community amongst families, overall audience and more than a few age teams amongst ladies right through the fourth quarter of the yr.
Whilst Lucas thinks there is existence left in linear TV, Hallmark streaming is a major precedence.
Hallmark does have a subscription streaming provider, Hallmark Films Now, which starts at $4.99 a month. Final month, Lucas employed Emily Powers, who helped develop area of interest streamer BritBox’s North The usa industry, to run Hallmark’s streaming and virtual platform department. She’s tasked with relaunching Hallmark’s streaming provider and long run ad-supported channels.
Moreover, Hallmark is to be had no longer simplest on digital pay-TV bundles like FuboTV, but in addition smaller competing products and services like FrndlyTV and Philo, that have less expensive subscriptions and goal audiences simplest in search of leisure channels. Information and sports activities, which snag the absolute best rankings, lift the prices of pay-TV bundles.
Lucas additionally has been pondering outdoor of the field. She mentioned she is not within the conventional licensing offers with streaming products and services the place they simply supply content material that will get misplaced within the shuffle.
This speaks to the deal Hallmark signed with NBCUniversal’s Peacock final yr.
“To be truthful, when Peacock knocked at the door, I believed it used to be going to be the similar dialog and I went into it pondering, ‘OK, this shall be over in like 10 mins,’” mentioned Lucas. “However that they had me after they described their products and services as being focused round fandom.”
The deal made Lucas recall to mind when she labored at TNT and the community had rights to WWE wrestling suits. The publicity to professional wrestling taught her the significance of fandom when turning in content material. (Turner bought International Championship Wrestling to WWE in 2001. Lucas left Turner in 2002.)
What made the deal other used to be that it incorporated are living streams of Hallmark networks on Peacock.
“It took numerous ahead pondering for Wonya to assume, ‘How do I recover distribution and streaming distribution for my content material, and nonetheless handle [traditional pay-TV deals], which I feel she navigated effectively,’” mentioned Mark Lazarus, NBCUniversal’s head of TV and streaming, who labored with Lucas a long time in the past at Turner.
Lucas admitted it did take some negotiating to clean any ruffled feathers with their conventional distribution companions.
“I feel Hallmark is a brilliant have compatibility for her as it aligns together with her values and sure power,” mentioned Lazarus.
Lucas’ center of attention at the integrity of manufacturers has a tendency to persuade maximum of her pondering, one thing that caught out to a number of leaders she’s labored with within the trade.
“She’s an ace at navigating manufacturers, from The Climate Channel to Hallmark. She’s at all times desirous about the way you propel the emblem and what partnerships do this,” mentioned Rashida Jones, president of MSNBC. Jones used to be an up-and-coming manufacturer at The Climate Channel when Lucas used to be in rate.
The 2 bumped into every different just lately on the Sundance Movie Pageant. Jones mentioned it’s been most probably twenty years since they would final observed every different. “I after all were given to inform [Lucas] how a lot I seemed as much as her on the time I labored together with her,” Jones mentioned.
“You understand the word, ‘If you’ll see it, you’ll be it?’ I comprehend it’s cliche, however it is true. She used to be one of the crucial earliest examples of a lady, and a lady of colour at that, on the helm,” Jones added. “I at all times mentioned if I will be able to do 1 / 4 of what Wonya did in her profession, I might imagine myself a success.”
Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the father or mother corporate of CNBC and MSNBC.
Rationalization: This tale has been up to date to elucidate the character of Hallmark’s are living distribution settlement with Peacock.