For Impact to be on a rather sh!tty channel and still draw an average of 1.5 million viewers weekly, to me, is rather impressive.
Call me nuts, but this is a product that was widely un-represented in mainstream media just a few short years ago. Other than internet marks and a few random wrestling fans who ordered those weekly PPVs in the beginning, nobody knew a thing about TNA. Now they are broadcasting a weekly show, putting on some of the best matches in the industry and slowly building a following.
Has TNA jumped into direct competition with WWE overnight? Absolutely not. To expect they would or could is also illogical. To do that would be almost impossible, especially since as an organization, TNA has barely a FRACTION of the financial backing of WWE and only about 18-percent as many years in the market.
As a media relations professional, my guess is that WWE's media/marketing/advertising/PR budget alone is MORE than TNA's entire annual operations budget. Think about that for a second. That means WWE is probably spending just about as much to PROMOTE its product as TNA is to run their whole damn show, INCLUDING paying wrestlers' salaries. That, combined with a 47-year history versus just 7 or so for TNA, and there is no question why WWE is so far ahead in terms of brand recognition.
Now, for those that contend a higher quality product automatically = more viewers, or that more viewers automatically implies better product, think again. Historically speaking, in the entertainment industry, the products with the highest quality are RARELY made for maximum public consumption.
Generally speaking, the most critically-acclaimed films, records/albums/CDs, TV shows, etc., are also the ones that struggle most for attention. And, again speaking in general terms, when those products begin to focus exclusively on becoming fit for mass consumption (TV ratings, box office numbers, record sales, etc.), the quality almost ALWAYS diminishes dramatically. That's also when terms like "Sell Out" start getting thrown around.
Again, people need to stop comparing TNA to WWE and allow the show to stand on its own merits. For a company that's still young, still growing into itself, still finding its legs, and NOT spending unbelievable resources to draw in mainstream viewers who don't really care about the product anyway through gimmicks like "guest hosts," 1.2-1.5 million viewers impressions per week is pretty incredible.