Ring Ka King Getting Higher Ratings and More Viewers Than TNA

[Smiter]

Surprisingly TNA's RKK is doing good in India, a country where wrestling isn't that much popular than US,japan etc. It is getting more ratings and viewership than TNA, and praised by many wrestling fans.
Now what are TNA doing different to not do such good? What are your opinions and about differences in TNA and RKK

 

[Muffin Top Merkley]

I'm not surprised by this at all, and that's not a knock at the current TNA product as I have just recently returned to watching Impact Wrestling on more regular basis, nor is it praise of how well Ring Ka King is doing as I have yet to watch a single episode.

I'm not surprised at the fact that Ring Ka King has more viewers that Impact Wrestling, because the population of India greatly outnumbers the population of the USA, so it makes sense that there would be a lot of the population watching a wrestling program that is geared towards them. Ring Ka King could be completely awful, but it would still initially bring in more viewers than Impact Wrestling does on Spike TV.

 

[ABMorales787]

More people, less channels. Just because it has higher ratings, doesn't mean it's doing better than Impact itself. Impact competes with hundreds of channels with all sorts of different programming and sports in the U.S. alone. I'm not sure about India, but if their cable deals don't offer 100+ channels, HBO, Cinemax and Starz then it shouldn't be a surprise RKK get's bigger ratings. Less competition.

 

[¡Roján!]

I'm not surprised by this at all, and that's not a knock at the current TNA product as I have just recently returned to watching Impact Wrestling on more regular basis, nor is it praise of how well Ring Ka King is doing as I have yet to watch a single episode.

I'm not surprised at the fact that Ring Ka King has more viewers that Impact Wrestling, because the population of India greatly outnumbers the population of the USA, so it makes sense that there would be a lot of the population watching a wrestling program that is geared towards them. Ring Ka King could be completely awful, but it would still initially bring in more viewers than Impact Wrestling does on Spike TV.

I was thinking about posting this too, but upon closer research, the ratings for Ring Ka King are still superior to the ones of Impact, using the same type of ratings analysis (the percentage of people watching it at that time).

So, what I put it down to is the simple fact that wrestling is still, I believe, a craze in India. Back in 2008, when I visited India, myself, the amount of kids running about with John Cena t-shirts was shocking. Now, if you couple in the fact that Ring Ka King is something new and fresh you're bound to get viewers, no matter what. It will be interesting to see if RKK can mantain the viewership and ratings or if the buzz around will just die down.

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

I think it has got to do with the fact that pro wrestling is still a very new form of entertainment for the audience in India here. People here flock towards whatever is new initially and so you cannot really say that RKK is doing better than IW until and unless RKK can sustain its ratings in the longer run.

Another factor that should be mentioned here is the timeslot, which is a good one for. Kids and men are mostly at home at 8:00 PM on the weekends and not much is on TV at this timeslot. There are a few reality shows but the stuff that is mostly watched across all Indian households, the soap operas that are mostly watched by the womenfolk for their women centric themes, are not telecasted on the weekends. There is some sort of a special episode telecasted every once in a while, but mostly weekends are a dull time for the ladies. With the men getting a free reign to watch whatever they want, RKK benefits.

 

[Zeven_Zion]

Are you surprised? Its first episode drew more than SD!, RAW and Impact draw combined. Huge population, few channels as someone else mentioned, open toward imported products such as RKK - high viewership.

Of course, it's high for us, it's nothing special for India. I like the show.

 

[dwith]

I believe it's because pro wrestling is fresh in INDIA, and new to the people.
If you have watched any of the RING KA KING show's the fan's are fanatic's and genuinely enjoy the show's and interaction's with the wrestler's.

The only reason TNA is not that over in the US is because wrestling fan's have been tainted by the WWF/WWE product for so long that loyal fan's don't want stray to TNA in fear that TNA will propose to be more of a threat to WWE in the future, and WWE fans don't like change.

I have been watching alot of the RING KA KING and I think it's alot of fun, the wrestling is great, and it's alot like what TNA is putting out their now on television, and it's just entertaining to watch.

 

[MVA09]

More people, less channels. Just because it has higher ratings, doesn't mean it's doing better than Impact itself. Impact competes with hundreds of channels with all sorts of different programming and sports in the U.S. alone. I'm not sure about India, but if their cable deals don't offer 100+ channels, HBO, Cinemax and Starz then it shouldn't be a surprise RKK get's bigger ratings. Less competition.

There are above 500 channels in India...out of which approximately 200 channels are free and shown in every TV...and ratings does not depend on the population...or else India would have had ratings above 100 for each channel...
Ratings are calculated in the same way everywhere...2.2 in India = 2.2 in America...only difference is 2.2=14 million in India and 2.2 = 3 million in USA...

 

[IHW]

I would have to say it is because it is fresh in India.
But the question is, how long does it do this good?

I do praise TNA for this opportunity they took and i hope the make the best of it.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Like others have said, India is a country with a massive population and not nearly as much to choose from in terms of tv viewership.

I'm certainly not well versed in tv programming in India, what's available or what's allowed to be available, but Ring Ka King is something different. Also, as others have pointed out, the population difference affects the way they measure television ratings in India. What sounds like a fantastic number to us might might be run of the mill for a program there.

 

[Headman]

4 Billion people with how many channels? I don't think it's that strange at all that they would find more viewers than TNA, which is a niche company with a reputation (fair or not) of being bad. And of course in India they probably don't have to deal with the annoying TNA loyalists who have convinced themselves that the only reason TNA isn't popular is because the big bad WWE convinces their loyal fans to say nasty things about poor old TNA on the interwebz.


And Dwith, while I've been slacking the last year or two I follow the WWE along with Ring of Honor, Chikara, NOAH, NJPW, AJPW, PWG, CW and other promotions. It's not because I don't want to give other companies besides WWE a chance. It's that I've given TNA many, many chances and they've always failed to entertain me. Please don't generalize fans because believe it or not we do have our reasons for not liking TNA.

 

[mlp420]

What's funny is that Ring Ka King is basically a Indian import of TNA. So I don't see it as an indictment of it's American counterpart, that wouldn't even make sense. I really don't know how to explain it to be honest. My best guess is maybe because they're using Indian stars for the show?

 

[mlp420]

4 Billion people with how many channels? I don't think it's that strange at all that they would find more viewers than TNA, which is a niche company with a reputation (fair or not) of being bad. And of course in India they probably don't have to deal with the annoying TNA loyalists who have convinced themselves that the only reason TNA isn't popular is because the big bad WWE convinces their loyal fans to say nasty things about poor old TNA on the interwebz.

I would hope "TNA loyalist" aren't convince that TNA isn't popular because of the negativity on the internet. Because internet fans are largely irrelevant anyway. Very small piece of the pie when you compare the number of people who visit sites like this one, to the number of people who watch WWE and TNA.

 

[Headman]

I would hope "TNA loyalist" aren't convince that TNA isn't popular because of the negativity on the internet. Because internet fans are largely irrelevant anyway. Very small piece of the pie when you compare the number of people who visit sites like this one, to the number of people who watch WWE and TNA.

Agreed. But I think some of them are angry because they feel it could be a legit competitor to the WWE (Which isn't even true.) if the internet fans were to unify behind it and support it as "the official company of the IWC". It angers them that the majority of the IWC fail to see it their way and criticize TNA for it's faults. So while the internet fans aren't to blame for TNA's success or lack there of, the really devoted guys latch onto this as an explaination for why their favorite television show isn't such a big hit with others.

As for Ring Ka King it should be said that just because it's doing better numbers than TNA doesn't mean it's a major hit with the majority of Indians. There's just a larger minority over there.

 

[TheTemp]

Of course, this has to be a thread about more viewers than just TNA, the guys who start these threads never mention how Ring Ka King has gotten more viewers then WWE as well.

 

[VencomHardcore]

NO ONE has mentioned a Major Reason why it is doing well. It is WELL WRITTEN AND EASY TO ENJOY.

I have watched every episode and I like it. They have entertaining matches and I can follow the storyline although I don't speak Hindi or Gujarat. The quality of the show and the pacing is great.

They have done a great job in explaining the sport and making all the matches feel important and exciting. What they have done that the WWE couldn't do is take an American Product and make it Indian.

They presented wrestling to Indians in a way that respects the culture and gets them to like it. They didn't try to mix different sports with wrestling * Cough Cough Ring of Honor Cough * or throw a few Indians on the roster and only showcase them when they are visiting * Cough WWE Cough * .

It was done right. And it doesn't matter how many channels or people live in a place. If it doesn't stick no one will watch it. FYI, At one time in america we had only 4 channels and still there were programs that got cancelled because no one watched them.Population and channels are no excuse for numbers. Content is.

 

[theshadowranger]

for the same reason that it gets more viewers than WWE. India has a HUGE population. I think that the fact that the show is geared towards the India market helps as well. The show is in their language and it has a lot of Indian wrestlers on it. I don't get into mexican or japanese wrestling because it's not in english. I imagine that people in other countries may not get into english wrestling for the same reason.

 

[Rayne]

Here's what people don't want to hear, especially those of you on the subcontinent, but from an advertising perspective (which means from a television perspective):

American viewers > Other viewers.

Americans spend more money per capita than almost every other country on leisure, and the others can't match America's size. The amount of free cash the average American has to spend absolutely dwarfs the amount of cash the average Indian has to spend. So the viewership of Ring Ka King- while very impressive- does not constitute being a better promotion.

It's also, as has been stated, a brand new show. This could easily prove to be a fad over there. It's way too early to start calling Ring Ka King a successful venture. They have certainly had a felicitous start.

 

[gurvinder372]

Here's what people don't want to hear, especially those of you on the subcontinent, but from an advertising perspective (which means from a television perspective):

American viewers > Other viewers.

Americans spend more money per capita than almost every other country on leisure, and the others can't match America's size. The amount of free cash the average American has to spend absolutely dwarfs the amount of cash the average Indian has to spend. So the viewership of Ring Ka King- while very impressive- does not constitute being a better promotion.

It's also, as has been stated, a brand new show. This could easily prove to be a fad over there. It's way too early to start calling Ring Ka King a successful venture. They have certainly had a felicitous start.

As someone has already mentioned, there are over 500 channels here in India, and out of which 200 are free. Also, not every new thing that is launched is successful India. This landscape is absolutely full of entertainment products, and as you mentioned people in India don't spend much on leisure. To be able to get good viewership in such an environment is a good achievement.

I have watched their episodes and liked the way they have shown international wrestlers trying to embrace Indian culture by doing a few gestures every now and then. Drama in the ring is also picking up. If you have missed the introduction of 'Monster Abyss' and the reaction of crowd when he goes near them, then you have certainly missed a classic. There is already is story going on Jazzy Lahoria (current Kafebe owner of RKK) feuding with TNA higher management (again kafebe). So, their matches, promos and storytelling is also more than satisfactory.

I guess marketing this show as a successful one would prove to be a good idea too, since India audience certainly has a liking for those products which are successful in western part of the world.

 

[Twocenter]

Like others have said, India is a country with a massive population and not nearly as much to choose from in terms of tv viewership.

I'm certainly not well versed in tv programming in India, what's available or what's allowed to be available, but Ring Ka King is something different. Also, as others have pointed out, the population difference affects the way they measure television ratings in India. What sounds like a fantastic number to us might might be run of the mill for a program there.

Talking about viewership, Indian people are obsessed with daily soap operas. Vast majority of the women i.e 85-90% look those serials every effin' day. Once my friend told me that his mother didn't let him watch RKK because she was watching a D-Grade show. LOL. There are easily about 500+ channels and most of them are related with the soap operas. Considering the teens, they are the ones who watch it. Teens are the main cause behind the rise because pro wrestling's love is growing day by day not only in India but also the whole Asia.

The matches of RKK are better than TNA IMO. They are pushing the young guys who are not washed up and over used. They're giving chances to Indians and that surely has some effect on the ratings. Besides they are doing a power struggle storyline with Jeff Jarret and an Indian. IMO, RKK is doing fine but its totally comedic sometimes ala a cricketer chasing 7 people including Abyss and stenier with a cricket wicket,

 

[dman1373]

with how good ra ka king is doing, maybe wwe should take a page out of tnas playbook and do the same things. Have it almost like their wwecw. Have some guys that they want to grow their. Send guys at the twilight of their carrers and guys who are really green their. Then add some indian guys. So the wrestlers can grow while getting better, while not over exposing them to american fans, while making wwe lots of money.

 

[Reflection]

In my opinion, there could be (and is) only one reason behind Rink ka King being more successful than Impact Wrestling (or even WWE) in terms of TRP so far, and that is because they are actually bringing forward a better viewing product than the other two.
See, if a show isn't good, it won't be successful in China; but if its a good one, it will fetch good ratings even in the Vatican City.
Ring ka King, in my observation, presented what we, the Indian audience were craving to see- A show that has action, drama, entertainment, and something different that none of the other shows have offered yet. And on that note, its also worth mentioning that part of its success is also based on the "new type of product" its offering, and it would be interesting to note where things go from here- (like a few others pointed out in page1) would they be able to maintain this success once the product starts to get old, or would they not.