Is the 8PM Start Time Hurting IMPACT Ratings?

[It's Damn Real!]

Sure seems like it...

Q1: 0.99 rating - Lockdown recap video, Chavo Guerrero and Hernandez attacked by Aces & 8's, Bully Ray promo, Sting backstage

Q2: 0.86 rating - Gail Kim promo during intros, Mickie James and Velvet Sky vs. Gail Kim and Tara, two commercial breaks

Q3: 0.97 rating - James and Sky vs. Kim and Tara continuation, Aces & 8's mock Brooke Hogan via phone message, Hulk Hogan backstage briefly, Robbie E vs. Rob Terry, Sting enters Hulk Hogan's dressing room

Q4: 1.0 rating - Bully ray and Aces & 8's, Hulk Hogan and Sting talk backstage, A.J. Styles video, Austin Aries and Bobby Roode approach Sting, A.J. Styles promo return interrupted by Christopher Daniels and Kazarian, two commercial breaks

Q5: 1.20 rating - Kazarian, Daniels, Styles, and James Storm, Storm vs. Daniels, Kurt Angle attacked by Aces & 8's

Q6: 1.15 rating - Joseph Park promo interrupted by Matt Morgan, Bully Ray and Aces & 8s backstage

Q7: 1.17 rating - Hogan family and Ray video, Sting vs. Aries

Q8: 1.24 rating - Sting vs. Aries continuation with Aces & 8's continuation, Hogan out and brings out Team TNA for a brawl with Aces & 8's

This breaks down to a 1.07 rating, down from last week's 1.13 rating. They're still getting their million + viewers, but this was also the first "road IMPACT" show, so the expectations were probably higher.

The silver lining is probably that the second half (9-10pm) slot actually averaged a 1.19, which would have exceeded last weeks' total rating, as well as the fact that the highest peaks throughout the night came during the Aries/Sting match, the Ray/A&E/Hogan closer and Bad Influence/Storm and AJ's return.

It's a one-week sample size, so take it with a grain of salt, but it sure seems like TNA is really struggling to grab that early hour market.

 

[ABMorales787]

It seems to be a constant since they took the timeslot last year. But you know the issue, right? It's done for the sake of Bellator. It can't be helped really, and TNA is just going to have to try and garner interest for the their openings the old fashioned way. Promote the fuck out of them.

 

[Papa Pillman]

I think they knew that when they made the switch it would take time for the first hour to catch on, but it really should've happened by now.

As Killjoy said, this is the way the weekly breakdown has looked almost every week.

It creates a catch-22. Do you load up the second hour(as was done this week) since you know more people will be watching, or do you try to put more relevant segments in the first hour in hopes to draw in extra early viewers?

Putting atleast one key segment in the first hour and then promoting it would seem like the smartest approach to take. The first quarter hour of the wedding episode was the highest opening quarter hour in 2013 because people were tuning in to find out when the heavily promoted segment would air.

 

[Mr Mikey Mike]

I don't think it's the 8pm start (5pm for me) that's affecting the ratings, surely people know by now that impact starts at 8. The first hour of Raw which starts at 8pm, is usually the highest rated hour of the show and I believe Wwe made the switch after Tna moved up an hour. Again, I don't know the real answer to this, but I was surprised at the overall number's for the show last night, since it was the fallout from the big angle at Lockdown.

 

[Lowdown]

I'm not too worried about the ratings. It can be cause for concern if it continues to dip in the coming weeks. Truthfully, it might be hard to compete with some of the national televised basketball and hockey games that are on at the same time as Impact. Like March Madness is going on right now, so I kinda take that into consideration.

 

[#heel420]

I think so. I always forget that it starts at 7 because I'm so use to it being on at 8. And honestly I'd rather watch the Always Sunny reruns on Comedy Central than Impact. It's barely worth watching anymore, too much Hogan. "Impact Wrestling where wrestling matters." If that was true why does Hulk cut a 20 minute promo every week?

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Yes, but they knew what they were getting in to when they made the change (NFL, BBT, American Idol, the carcass of Must See TV). I think the change was mainly two-fold: get Bellator on at a decent hour with a decent lead-in and if things hold up leave enough time so that you can record two live shows in one night. The fact that even though they lost ratings they still went on the road shows that the shock of losing ratings was not that bad.

Ratings are extremely important but there is much more to the picture. We just don't get to see everything so we focus on what we know. Last night's was probably a disappointment but it seems like Impact is holding on just fine if not slightly progressing. Dropping PPVs should be a far bigger concern.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

It's a possible factor but, at the same time, it's hard to say if the timeslot is the cause or more people are tuning into the second hour since that's usually where most of the more interesting aspects take place. Even when they were airing from 9 pm to 11 pm, it wasn't uncommon for TNA to actually lose viewers in the second hour compared to the first one.

As Killjoy pointed out, a big reason for the move is due to Bellator. Bellator is more of a priority to Spike because even though Bellator doesn't draw nearly as much in terms of total viewers, it comparatively draws significantly more in those male demographics. Those demos are what means more to Spike instead of overall viewers, for some damn reason.

At the end of the day though, there's nothing TNA can really do about it. This is the timeslot they've got so they're just going to have to make the best of it. With college basketball season about to really kick into high gear in the next several weeks, I doubt the ratings are going to improve. As I said in the aftermath section, I'm surprised last night's show didn't pop a rating and that it was actually down compared to the last 2 weeks.

That being said, IW has been drawing consistently solid numbers so far in 2013. So if they can keep numbers generally where they've been for the past 3 months for the rest of the year, it'll be their best year in some time. That's a big if, however, as enthusiasm for wrestling does get overshadowed, whether it be WWE or TNA, during the second half of the year.

 

[Zeven_Zion]

To say that the ratings are lower simply because of the time-slot would be pretty silly. There are clearly more things that impact it, but the time slot seems to be one of the factors since the ratings dropped almost on cue when they switched time slots.

Either way, it's a 0.1-2 drop so it's not that bad so hopefully they'll bounce right back up. Don't ask me how. My only solution is assasinate Vince McMahon. That's all I got.