Digital movie sales (electronic sellthrough, or EST) rose 20% in 2017 over 2016, says Bill Perrault, SVP of marketing and brand management, while DVD and Blu-ray Disc revenues were up 22% – this, at a time when industry disc sales were down 14%.

Net revenue, Perrault says, was up 46%.

At Walmart, the biggest of the more than 60,000 physical and digital retailers that carry Cinedigm product, sales of Hallmark product in the first six months of this year spiked 324% in gross revenue dollars compared to the first half 2017, Perrault said. Unit sales are up 315%.

Increased revenue is attributed to new release success from the Royal Wedding Collection, a collection of three films, two of which star Meghan Markle, and Campfire Kiss, starring Danica McKellar, along with seasonal placement of The Country Love Triple Feature for Mother’s Day.

Digital wholesale revenue is up 15% for the first six months of 2018 from the same period last year, largely due to the EST success of “When Calls the Heart” and “Chesapeake Shores,” two Canadian-American drama TV series show on the Hallmark Channel.

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This year Cinedigm will distribute two Hallmark Original Movies on DVD, exclusively at Walmart, and widely on EST three days after Crown’s 2018 Countdown to Christmas Television Premiere on the Hallmark Channel, which starts Oct. 27.

The first is Christmas At Graceland, starring Country Music Award winner Kellie Pickler. The second film is It’s Christmas, Eve, starring Grammy Award-winner LeAnn Rimes.

Much like Hallmark Channel programming, Christmas has always been the strongest time of the year for Hallmark disc and digital sales. But over the last two years, Perrault points out, “we’ve seen it grow into a strong every-day business.”