Hallmark's THE COLOR OF RAIN is Network's Highest Rated Original Movie

The world premiere of Hallmark Movie Channel's latest original movie, The Color of Rain captured hearts across the country Saturday night, earning a 1.6 household rating with 848K households and reaching more than 1.4 million unduplicated viewers to become the highest rated and most watched original film in network history.

The Color of Rain's 9-11pm debut on May 31 registered as the network's top-rated original premiere in key demos, including W25-54 (.6 rtg); A25-54 (.4 rtg); and P2+ (.7 rtg). The film also topped the network's previous bests in key demo delivery among W25-54 (154K); A25-54 (195K); and P2+ (1.004MM). In addition, the movie's premiere marked Hallmark Movie Channel's 2nd highest telecast to-date among W25-54 -- second only to the film's 11pm encore, which averaged 170K W25-54. Combined, the premiere and its four encores reached 3.0 million unduplicated viewers P2+.

Competitively, The Color of Rain was the #1 ad-supported cable movie and #7 Primetime program for the day, as well as the #3 cable movie of the week, among HH rtg. In its premiere time period, the movie elevated Hallmark Movie Channel to become the #3 cable network among HH's and #4 among P2+.

Based on the heartfelt autobiographical New York Times best-selling book of the same name, The Color of Rain tells inspirational real-life story of two young parents, Michael Spehn and Gina Kell. Living in the same small community, Michael and Gina each lose their respective spouses to cancer just six weeks apart. Devastated by grief, Kell a mother of 2 boys, played by Lacey Chabert (Party of Five, Mean Girls­), and Spehn father to 3 children of his own, played by Warren Christie (Alphas, Happy Town), begin to forge an unlikely friendship, ultimately falling in love and uniting their broken families as one.

Source: The Nielsen Company, May 26 - June 1, 2014