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Hallmark Planning 4,000 Hours of Countdown to Christmas Programming in 2025
With less than seven months to go before Hallmark’s 16th annual Countdown to Christmas kicks off in October 2025, network execs are already making big promises — including “4,000 hours of holiday content this season.”
On April 3, Hallmark Media issued a press release that provided a preview of its upcoming programming plans, one week before execs provide more details to advertisers at the company’s spring Upfronts presentations in New York on April 10, per Ad Age.
Hallmark Channel’s New Reality Show Lineup Will Be Part of 2025 Countdown to Christmas
HallmarkHallmark typically does not provide a full schedule of its highly-anticipated Countdown to Christmas lineup of movies and series until a few weeks before its October kickoff. But the April 3 press release provided a few hints at what’s to come, including a slate of new reality shows to debut in 2025 on Hallmark Channel.
Among the shows mentioned was “Finding Mr. Christmas” starring show co-creator Jonathan Bennett and Melissa Peterman. The much-buzzed-about first season of Hallmark’s first-ever competition show, designed to find the next Hallmark hunk, streamed exclusively on Hallmark+ in 2024, but its second season will premiere on Hallmark Channel, with each episode available on the streamer the next day.
“Everyone likes a Christmas movie, it just is part of pop culture,” Bennett told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview published on April 3. “The way I approach this was, let’s plug ‘Finding Mr. Christmas’ into the pop culture zeitgeist of Christmas movies at the holidays, which everyone watches.”
By turning the “tropes of a Christmas movie — the meet-cute, the apology scene, the breakup scene, the ice skating” into a fun competition, Bennett said, “Finding Mr. Christmas” became a show that “everyone can watch and it’s guilty pleasure television.”
A holiday baking show is also in the works, called “Baked with Love: Holiday.” According to Hallmark’s release, the unscripted series is a “family recipe bake-off where talented home bakers showcase their signature family holiday bakes and the heartfelt stories behind them.” No word yet on who will host the show.
Countdown to Christmas Will Also Feature New ‘Holiday Touchdown’ Movie & 2 Series
In addition to reality shows and Hallmark’s bread-and-butter — plenty of original holiday movies — including the just-announced “Holiday Touchdown: A Bills Love Story.” Hallmark’s April 3 release said the movie, made in partnership with the NFL, will include “fan activities, co-branded merchandise, and widespread promotions across various platforms.”
Holiday movies drove Hallmark Channel to become the most-watched cable network in the fourth quarter of 2024 among Women ages 18+ for the 11th year in a row, per Hallmark’s release. That included airing the top three most-watched cable movies of the year: “Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story” took first place, “Three Wiser Men and a Boy” took second, and Erin Krakow’s “Santa Tell Me” came in third place.
The 2025 Countdown to Christmas lineup will also include two holiday series. The first season of Sarah Drew’s “Mistletoe Murders” streamed exclusively on Hallmark+, but the company’s April 3 release said the show, recently renewed for a second season, will be part of Hallmark’s Countdown to Christmas programming this holiday season, but didn’t specify where the new season will air.
Meanwhile, filming is underway in Ireland on a limited holiday series starring Mae Whitman, Mary McDonnell, and Jane Seymour with a working title of “The Twelve Dates of Christmas.”
Before Countdown to Christmas begins, Hallmarkies still have the network’s Christmas in July programming to look forward to, which typically features round-the-clock holiday classics and several original movie premieres in the middle of summer.
