More wrestling = Less ratings - 9/3/2009 = 1.0

[Marty2Hotty]

TNA iMPACT! earned a 1.0 cable rating on 9/4 - a 0.80 in M18-49, a 0.54 in P18-49, a 0.79 in M18-34, and an average audience of 1.3 million viewers.

Last week's show was all homegrowns wrestling and all for the most part ending in clean finishes. I think it was a lackluster show with no good segments. Even the Joe/Daniels segment was typical of what they would write 4 years ago trying to brag about the X-Division and nobody in the crowd really gave a shit about it.

The shows that have the most excitement, character development, entertainment are the ones that do the 1.3! THe ones that are different. TNA suddenly chose to just have an entire show based on mat wrestling (something WWE for the most part already does) and as a result their ratings were affected

More wrestling = Less ratings! This is a fact!

 

[Wrath]

Since they've not done rating like 0.9 or 0.8 it cannot be a fact. TNA averages around 1.1 and 1.2 so how can you think 1.0 as a low rating. Even though I think there should be more character development,storylines and feuds to offer a different product from TNA I think last night's iMPACT was great. I still think TNA have to offer more character development,storylines and segments to make themselves different from WWE but doing 1.0 ratings which TNA generally does cannot be accepted as a decline in ratings.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Well now, I wouldn't exactly say that more wrestling = less ratings is something that's set in stone. The problem, in my view, with much of the matches that TNA had this past week on Impact were that almost every last one of them were random, did nothing for any of the wrestlers involved in any of the matches and the outcomes were almost completely predictable.

I knew Rhino wasn't going to go over Sting, nor did I care to see him be the random heel in some match that everyone knew the outcome of before even started. It was the same with Homicide/Hernandez, Styles/Sabin, the Knockouts tag match and the Williams/Suicide match up.

While the Styles/Sabin match was enjoyable to watch, which in and of itself was fine for me, but it didn't accomplish anything. Chris Sabin, who has barely been on TNA tv for nearly 2 months, was not going to go over Styles in a qualifying match to see who goes on to the next ppv for the TNA WHC.

Now, this isn't the first 1.0 that Impact has had. However, it's only the 2nd time this year they've scored below a 1.1. I think last week's show did a 1.1 and the week before did a 1.2 so the show's ratings have gone down steadily the past few weeks.

 

[TellMeWhy]

Well TNA is going up against College Football on ESPN in America, so this can be why the decline has happened. Interestingly, it was also written somewhere that Impact's viewers were watching ESPN.

 

[Excalibur]

I would be curious to know what the Eagles Jets game pulled in as a rating that night. It had Micheal Vick starting and I know a bunch of people who were interested in watching that game. I think having the NFL on Thursday night to start the season and then every Thursday night staring in November for the rest of the season could have an impact on Impact. (Pun intended). The Superstars rating for that night was down as well.

It might not be TNA slipping but rather competition for the last couple of weeks with the NFL. We'll have to see how they do this Thursday and compare that with the rating on the 17th with no NFL game that night. If the ratings go back up on the 17th then you can blame the NFL and not TNA for this little slide.

 

[BradXXX]

It makes sense to me with TNA going head to head with the NFL. This week will be even tougher for TNA to keep viewers with the regular season starting this Thursday night.

There were some great matches and a few great segments last week (I really enjoyed MCMG segment / match with aj) but it did seem to drag after a little while.

That being said, I did enjoy the half nelson suplex Joe did to Daniels where he landed right on his head. Why doesn't TNA ever show replays of things? If someone was dropped on their head like that in the 'E they would sell it like they are dead, and they would show like 10 replays in slow mo and bring out a stretcher. I understand they have a lot of stuff and need to move to the next segment, but better selling of segments could and should be done.

 

[Tyler44]

Now i dont watch TNA cause usually on a thursday night im probobly out somewhere, but i know that TNA gets about around 1.2-1.4 cable ratings. I dont think the 1.0 cable rating is all because of the bad show. Im sure maybe a few thousand people would have turned it off, but a .3 decrease happens a lot with raw and other wwe programming. I think it might be a 1 or 2 time thing. Plus football is starting up so that will effect the rating.

 

[Greenlight13]

It's just because it was a non-sensical, predictable slice of crap. The only one that wasn't a foregone conclusion was Suicide and Williams. Why was Doug Williams in this tournament anyway? I'm taking nothing away from his wrestling skill, but why the hell was he chosen to be one of 8 men eligable to get a PPV main event title shot?

This is why Money in the Bank qualifying matches are dull. Who's going to win, Mr Kennedy or Val Venis? hmmmmmmmmmm

If they had 8 legit potentials in the tournament and stretched it over 2 weeks it might have been more interesting, but as it was it was just 6 rushed matches, only one of which was any good (any guesses which?)

Wrestling is why I watch personally, I hate segments that last over 5 minutes, but each to their own and if the difference between a 1 and a 1.3 is those long segments then hey, I guess I've got weird taste.

 

[FiveTymeWCWChamp]

More wrestling = Less ratings is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. It is a wrestling show. There is supposed to be wrestling on a wrestling show. By the way, there is this thing, you might have heard of it. It is called the NFL. The NFL will kill ratings of any show opposing it, no matter what type of show it is. Raw ratings will suffer once MNF gets into full swing. That is the way it is. The NFL is the top dog in sports in America and everyone else is just a squirrel trying to get a nut.

 

[Cheney]

More wrestling = Less ratings is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. It is a wrestling show. There is supposed to be wrestling on a wrestling show. By the way, there is this thing, you might have heard of it. It is called the NFL. The NFL will kill ratings of any show opposing it, no matter what type of show it is. Raw ratings will suffer once MNF gets into full swing. That is the way it is. The NFL is the top dog in sports in America and everyone else is just a squirrel trying to get a nut.

Just because there are more wrestling matches doesn't make the show good. TNA's matches don't get you involved to much, that's there problem. With out good promos the crowd doesn't have anyone to be against or for, thus not to entertaining. Yes sports will decrease ratings for any show, especially football, but I do think TNA is just getting tiring for some people. TNA really needs to work on developing their own talent, rather than just garbage picking.

 

[Ambiguous Turd]

This experiment has been done over and over and over again and it proves true every single time.

Where to put the "wrestling" on is the PPV's. The weekly shows need to be made about 3 things:


1) Starting/Advancing Storylines
2) Starting/Advancing Feuds
3) Character Development to connect with the audience

I would have thought that this lesson was learned when WWE was trying this, but evidently not.

 

[X]

Last week's show was all homegrowns wrestling and all for the most part ending in clean finishes. I think it was a lackluster show with no good segments. Even the Joe/Daniels segment was typical of what they would write 4 years ago trying to brag about the X-Division and nobody in the crowd really gave a shit about it.

The shows that have the most excitement, character development, entertainment are the ones that do the 1.3! THe ones that are different. TNA suddenly chose to just have an entire show based on mat wrestling (something WWE for the most part already does) and as a result their ratings were affected

More wrestling = Less ratings! This is a fact!

Oh Marty. Marty, Marty, Marty. How I've missed you, where have you been? Still mourning Glenn's departure from WZ?

These are taken from PWInsider...

ONE POTENTIAL THEORY FOR TNA IMPACT RATINGS DROP
By Mike Johnson on 2009-09-08 17:28:26
Jules Davey sent word that his cable system's DVR did not record this past Thursday's Impact as scheduled despite there being no other programming that would have canceled Impact, nor was there a name change to the listing.

As it turns out, my own cable system, Time-Warner didn't record Impact on my DVR, either and I only saw the episode because I was able to catch it via their "start over" technology when I realized it wasn't recording

So, if this turns out to be a sign of a larger issue with this past Thursday's episode, that could be a theory as to why the number could have dropped. While tournaments have never done good ratings-wise for pro wrestling, the content of the show (which was the best Impact in forever) was certainly not the culprit.

TNA-DVR UPDATE
By Mike Johnson on 2009-09-08 17:51:28
A Ton of readers send word that on their DVRs, their listing for TNA Impact was changed to "TNA Wrestling" and last Thursday's episode did not tape as scheduled, so there could be something to the theory Jules Davey proposed.

A big reason for the drop off in numbers may have been because of this DVR issue. On most people I've talked to as well, instead of the program being labeled "TNA Impact", it was labeled "TNA Wrestling", so no one's DVR recorded it. This would also lead people to believe Impact wouldn't be on this week if they searched for it on their television.

It's not like this is a big drop off either way. A fluctuation of a few points is absolutely nothing out of the normal, that's how ratings work Marty. A loss of a .1 isn't exactly a massive drop off, is it?

 

[Marty2Hotty]

That's speculation. I thought the show sucked because it was very boring and full of wrestling. The shows that draw 1.3s are the ones that are usually more interseting, full of the main eventers, and have good segments and stories/characters that advance the show.

This week was worse than Raw. I can't believe this but I actually tuned into Price is "Raw" to see Bob Barker and the first segment was more entertaining than the entire Impact show. All the clean finishes that TNA is doing does not set them apart from WWE Raw (who is doing the exact same shit). I thought last week's show was one of the worst showings in TNA Impact in quite some time. My friend watched it and said TNA was so boring last week, and he usually makes fun of Raw/SD whenever he skims the show and puts Impact over WWE. This time though TNA fell short..

What the fuck is wrong with TNA. Do they pay attention to the Kellers. THey should fuck listening to those guys. Remember when McMahon/Russo did the ATtitude era and they did 6.0s? That was without paying atteniton to Meltzer and the Internet 'critics' who at that time claimed the show was killing the business or something.

Bischoff was another who never paid attention to the critics. He went head to head against WWE Live - gave away the results of Raw on their show "breaking" a lot of the wrestling code. He didn't give a shit and he dominated cable television ratings for like 85 weeks.

Why waste an entire show putting it full of mat wrestling when 90% of the viewing public that has a TV doesn't give a shit.

I hope they recover this week and I hope this slaps them in the face a bit. Knowing TNA, they always fuck things up eventually. This entire MEM thing feels like the Invasion angle - lack of progress and them being too afraid to push the envelope further

Sorry for the negativity. I am usually really high on TNA, but a show like last week was just a killer on any momentum TNA may have had.

 

[BigMoe131888]

First off, your saying that more wrestling = less ratings? Based on what? One show?! Secondly, like it has already been pointed out. A 1.0 isn't far from what TNA is already doing in the ratings department. Third, football is back. You will soon start seeing it affect Monday Night Raw also. Ratings are going to dip. You also have to remember that the fall season of TV is just a few weeks away. Things can play into a rating. So I think its a bit of a stretch to say more wrestling equals lesser ratings based on one show.

 

[Marty2Hotty]

actually it wasn't just a show with more wrestling, it was a show with more wrestling and boringness! Nobody cares about unknowns fighting long wrestling matches. You can blame football all you want but TNA would be able to draw these ratings a year or two ago regardless.

I don't want them to do more wrestling in the same fashion as last week. My friend who is usualy a fan of the COMEDY and ENTERTAINMENT that TNA does... said it was extremely boring last week and he was still bitching about it. He usually says TNA is way better and more exciting than Raw.

This is a momentum killer. They should just let Russo write shows the way he would do during the attitude era, focusing on crash TV, comedy, entertainment, characters, and intense feuds, with clearcut babyfaces and heels, making fans ERUPT and bring SIGNS

TNA last week was wrestling boredom at most and the ratings reflected it. If they go this route, they'll go back to .7

 

[X]

TNA posted the following message on their website as a reminder:

TNA FANS: DOUBLE CHECK YOUR DVR
TNA fans in the United States and Canada are encouraged to double check their digital video recorder presets for upcoming episodes of “TNA iMPACT!,” as the menu titles for TNA programming
might have changed on certain cable and satellite providers to either “TNA iMPACT!” or “TNA Wrestling".

So there you have it people, a big reason for the lower rating this week could be because of the programming title being changed for Impact. Besides, is a .1 or .2 drop REALLY a big deal? There are about 12 million factors that could drive that, it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that there was more wrestling on Impact. I don't see how you could logically think it does.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Overall, in the grand scheme of things, a 0.1 or 0.2 loss isn't all that much if a show has a large audience. TNA Impact, however, doesn't have that big of an audience. This pat Thursday's Impact drew a 0.9 and that's the first time Impact's scored less than a 1.0 since August 14th of last year. A tenth of a point is roughly 114,500 homes, TNA's average has been a 1.2 and this makes the third week the show has lost viewers.

In nearly a month, TNA Impact has lost almost a third of it's audience. Regardless of the cause, whether it be screwed up DVR listings or people sickening of the product, TNA management has to be a little concerned.

 

[TellMeWhy]

Again, it's nothing for TNA or management to be concerned about. It's simply Football season in the United States. That is all. NFL is the biggest thing in the US. When football season starts, everything comes 2nd. It also doesn't help that 1 of the biggest & important games took place on that very Thursday Night during the same time as Impact.