Both Hallmark Media and its main competitor, Great American Media, have announced layoffs. Four executives have been laid off at Hallmark, including the company’s chief marketing officer.
At Great American Family, 13 executives were affected, including the CFO and head of marketing. Some of the layoffs at Great American Family were attributed to a recent merger with the streaming service Pure Flix.
Hallmark
In a statement to Deadline, a Hallmark spokesperson said that some positions were eliminated while others have been added.
“Hallmark Media organizational changes were announced internally today representing a new, more streamlined structure,” read the statement. “As such, some executive leadership roles were eliminated, while new and expanded roles were created in order to forge new opportunities that will strengthen our focus on our core, and build new capabilities for our consumers and viewers. The Hallmark Media business remains committed to creating compelling content and Hallmark Channel recently closed out the entire 2023 year as the #1 most-viewed cable entertainment network among key demos, demonstrating a clear pathway for continued success.”
The executives affected were Chief Marketing Officer Lara Richardson, Chief People Officer Pamela Wolfe, EVP Research Strategy Robin Thomas, and Head of Distribution Judi Lopez.
Great American Media
A spokesperson for Great American Media told Deadline that the changes had to do with creating synergy between both the broadcast and streaming elements of its business.
“We are now looking to maximize the synergies of our brands just as NetFlix narrowed its focus this year, we are taking steps to focus on our strengths,” read the statement. “We are a streaming platform with a linear audience approaching 70 million viewers in our platforms and our objective is to maximize the synergies between the audiences. Technology is critical to our success, so the decision was made to align the technology intersection with content marketing to enhance the viewer and consumer experience across platforms, [and] meet our viewers where they are with the content they want. With an experienced CTO, we consolidated key marketing functions into our technology team to align our marketing and technology platforms to ensure we maximize synergies between our estimated 70 million linear/cable viewers and our leading faith, family and streaming offering, Great American Pure Flix.”
The executives affected by layoffs at Great American Pure Flix include Loren Schwartz, Chief Marketing Officer; Jamie Kramer, EVP Digital & Strategic Growth; Max Pinigin, Chief Financial Officer; Angela Sullivan, VP Corporate Communications, Brian Pancarik, Exec VP User Experience & Operations; Michael Hough, Head of Financial Planning and Analysis; and Nicole Gardner, Pure Flix Creative Director.
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Both Hallmark Media and its main competitor, Great American Media, have announced layoffs. Four executives have been laid off at Hallmark, including the company’s chief marketing officer.
At Great American Family, 13 executives were affected, including the CFO and head of marketing. Some of the layoffs at Great American Family were attributed to a recent merger with the streaming service Pure Flix.
Hallmark
In a statement to Deadline, a Hallmark spokesperson said that some positions were eliminated while others have been added.
“Hallmark Media organizational changes were announced internally today representing a new, more streamlined structure,” read the statement. “As such, some executive leadership roles were eliminated, while new and expanded roles were created in order to forge new opportunities that will strengthen our focus on our core, and build new capabilities for our consumers and viewers. The Hallmark Media business remains committed to creating compelling content and Hallmark Channel recently closed out the entire 2023 year as the #1 most-viewed cable entertainment network among key demos, demonstrating a clear pathway for continued success.”
The executives affected were Chief Marketing Officer Lara Richardson, Chief People Officer Pamela Wolfe, EVP Research Strategy Robin Thomas, and Head of Distribution Judi Lopez.
Great American Media
A spokesperson for Great American Media told Deadline that the changes had to do with creating synergy between both the broadcast and streaming elements of its business.
“We are now looking to maximize the synergies of our brands just as NetFlix narrowed its focus this year, we are taking steps to focus on our strengths,” read the statement. “We are a streaming platform with a linear audience approaching 70 million viewers in our platforms and our objective is to maximize the synergies between the audiences. Technology is critical to our success, so the decision was made to align the technology intersection with content marketing to enhance the viewer and consumer experience across platforms, [and] meet our viewers where they are with the content they want. With an experienced CTO, we consolidated key marketing functions into our technology team to align our marketing and technology platforms to ensure we maximize synergies between our estimated 70 million linear/cable viewers and our leading faith, family and streaming offering, Great American Pure Flix.”
The executives affected by layoffs at Great American Pure Flix include Loren Schwartz, Chief Marketing Officer; Jamie Kramer, EVP Digital & Strategic Growth; Max Pinigin, Chief Financial Officer; Angela Sullivan, VP Corporate Communications, Brian Pancarik, Exec VP User Experience & Operations; Michael Hough, Head of Financial Planning and Analysis; and Nicole Gardner, Pure Flix Creative Director.