• by Wayne Friedman , May 21, 2008

Getting an early jump on the upfront selling season, Hallmark Channel announced that it has made its first upfront deal with Starcom USA. A Hallmark spokesman could not confirm any other details.

The Hallmark-Starcom deal--which will include many of the media agency clients, according to a number of published reports--will include media placed both on Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movie Network.

Cable buying and selling executives guess the Hallmark-Starcom deal could be worth around $10 million to $15 million. Overall, Hallmark brought in about just over $200 million in ad sales in 2007--up 23% over the year before. Analysts estimate the network pulls in about half of its seasonal advertising revenue during the upfront market.

One cable advertising sales executive was surprised at the Hallmark deal--considering the slow marketplace. Many expect that first-tier cable TV networks will not really kick-start upfront advertising deals until the later part of June or early July. Broadcast networks will make deals before then.

While cable executives are surprised about the deal, they note that Hallmark has made some major ratings gains over the last year. For the first quarter, Hallmark Channel climbed to seventh place in prime time with a 1.2 household rating. The Crown Media Holdings-owned network has moved into 10th place among total viewers in prime-time ratings, with an average audience of 1.3 million--up 22% over a year before.

Hallmark has the second-oldest median age--64--of any cable network, just behind Fox News Channel.