TNAs ratings not going up despite new talent - Why?

[mayhem]

Recently TNA have implemented a vast amount of talent into their programming with names such as Taz, Tara, Hamada, Lashley, Sarita, Brutus Magnus, Doug Williams, Rob Terry, D'angelo Dinero, Dr Stevie, Jesse Neal, Jethro Holliday, Alissa Flash this year alone.

Adding to that the World Elite stable has been created and The Main Event Mafia is not even 1 year old and TNAs ratings have not only remained steady they are dipping.

TNAs highest rating is just a 1.3 and the latest Impact received just a 1.1 rating! wwe Superstars recently got a 0.9 rating so Impact is just above that show in the ratings (both on Thursday).

Even with the new influx of talent the ratings are dipping or staying constant. What does TNA need to do to improve the ratings? Do you think it can only be done with established names? Is TNA the wcw of wrestling?

 

[Poop Master Flex]

TNA's whole structure needs to change (Yeah, at this point I do kind of feel that TNA is the WCW of the 2000's). First off, they do a piss poor job of building new stars, looking at guys like Styles and Joe, they both should be at a much higher level than they currently are. Thats not their fault though, they have been very poorly used over the last few years which is a shame because 4-5 years ago it was really looking like those 2 were going to be there big stars, but TNA blew it.
Next off, they just try to rehash old stars from the WWE that have run their course (Angle is probably the one exception to the rule). Guys like Booker, Nash and Steiner should not have the position they currently have, they should be making stars right now, not burying them (Seriously, Nash did a hell of a job making Joe look like a jobber).
Probably the worst thing about it has to be that TNA actually thinks what they are doing is good, they feel because their ratings are consistent (and not dropping) it must mean they are doing everything right, but their not. Their ratings were that even before Angle showed up, they just don't realize that rebuilding WWE's garbage isn't the way to get things done. If TNA ever has a shot, they got to realize this, learn how to write a good storyline that can last over 3 weeks, learn how to book stars so they actually look good, and most of all, make people give a shit about watching their product. TNA right now has nothing over the WWE, so why would people watch it over the WWE unless they are already a die hard wrestling fan? 4-5 years ago they at least had better matches, but not anymore.

 

[Ambiguous Turd]

Because it only goes to show what we've been saying for years now. Talent isn't the problem with TNA, and anyone who thinks so is only kidding themselves. The company's advertising and marketing efforts are poor, and that is what is preventing them from breaking out and expanding further.

As stated, the company also needs to totally reinvent itself in terms of product presentation. They need to overhaul their image ... and I would start with getting rid of the 6 sided ring. They will be looked upon more favorably and taken more seriously as a wrestling organization by simply taking that very first step.

 

[samboisdead]

I agree with the above posters. One constant WCW always had was that they had homegrown stars in Sting, Luger, RNR Express, Road Warriors etc. I dont think TNA really has anyone they have made other than AJ.

 

[InfoWarlord]

Spike doesn't support TNA as much as for example UFC. I've seen some very entertaining episodes of Impact but the ratings just don't reflect the quality of the show. I agree that TNA needs to improve but even the current product is worthy of higher ratings and buy rates. I think WWE has sort of over saturated the market with all 4 of their shows which each get more advertisement than Impact.

 

[xNEWxAMERiKAx]

I agree that TNA's talent isn't the reason they can't draw better ratings. They have, arguably, a better roster, talent-wise, than WWE. Having said that, not an enormous amount of people know about TNA. TNA isn't marketing their product well enough, and if they are I'm just not seeing it. I've never seen a TNA promo/commercial, whatever off of Spike; even then I hardly see them. I found TNA by accident on YouTube a few years ago.

When Jeff Hardy left WWE in 2004 I believe, I knew he likely got released because he just disappeared, but I had no idea he went to TNA until I saw his first match against AJ on YouTube, and this ended up to me finding WrestleZone as well.

 

[TellMeWhy]

It has nothing to do with the TNA product itself. The problem is that TNA is still not known by lots of casual fans despite the big name talent. It's only so far that the internet can promote you and that word of mouth can take you. TNA doesn't promote and SpikeTV doesn't try to promote them either which sucks for TNA. All TNA has to do is put some advertisements on showing off known stars like Booker, Angle, Sting, and Lashley and WWE fans would want to check it out. If they put up billboards, posters, ads, commercials, it would all help. TNA's marketing is nonexistant and it's affecting their viewership.

But I wouldn't go as far as saying there ratings aren't going up. If you look at this past Saturday's Impact Replay rating, TNA got a 0.7 rating which means if you add up Thursday Night's viewers which were 1.6 million and put it together with .7, which is about 600-700,000 viewers, then TNA got about 2.2-2.3 million people to watch their show last week which is more than usual.

 

[Wrath]

It's improving but the biggest problem you all have is you always compare TNA to WCW and expect TNA to grow as fast as WCW did. It's fucking unfair. Bischoff had Turner's billions and WCW had ex WWF wrestler who are even though past their prime still have drawing power. But in TNA their biggest draw is Kurt Angle and Kurt Angle is no where near Hulk Hogan. So TNA needs more to pull people's attraction. Please don't expect TNA to grow as fast as WCW grew. It's impossible TNA don't have a network to put in the same day and same time slot with WWE,they don't have billion dollars and they don't have huge star that WCW had at that time.

As for TNA's rating's growing they're doing well. Right now TNA is averaging 1.2,1.3's when they first started they were doing 0.8's and 0.9's so there is an improvement. You also mentioned that TNA's ratings are close to Superstars but their ratings also close to Smackdown. The B show of WWE. The show that has huge stars like Rey Mysterio,Edge,Undertaker and Cm Punk.

TNA is not in WWE's level. So when somebody just tries to compare TNA to WWE it really makes me laugh. Just because TNA is the number 2 company but it does not make them they have to compete with WWE. They're not ready and probably won't be ready for a long time. It's not a bad thing they're increasing their viewers slowly and what's wrong with that ? If a promotion always makes more profit and money which TNA do it means they are succesful.

Please prove me that how do TNA not increasing their ratings. They started as a indy just like other 10000 promotions in USA. They first got their tv deal,then started getting decent ratings shortly after tied with ECW and right now about to catch Smackdown. Their ratings are improving and have improved since they started but you just can't expect from a 7-year-old promotion to catch a promotion that's been in this business for nearly 50 years.

 

[Panic Switch]

TNA is not at all in jeopardy. The ratings merely represent the American audience. Whereas in Australia and the UK, iMPACT regularly outrates all WWE programming. I personally put the reasoning down to iMPACT's getting massive advertising on FOX8 (The channel it is shown on in Australia). The way it is advertised is to be more for the older audience, with clips of hardcore moments and high-flying moves.

Perhaps it is not that the problem lies in the program but in the advertising of the programmer. Judging by the comments of some Americans, Spike doesn't advertise it correctly and that is the probable reasoning for low ratings.

Also don't try to argue that international ratings don't have an affect on the American channels choice to keep the show on. An example of this is the renewal of Heroes, which was saved thanks to overseas popularity.

 

[SavageTaker]

The ratings aren’t going up despite new talent because TNA’s marketing and advertising is horrible. They haven’t really done a good job of advertising the big name stars and the new talent therefore the majority of wrestling fans don’t even know who they are (the new/younger talent) or that some big names from the 90’s are still active.

Take Mick Foley for example, if advertised properly, his debut could have gotten them a better rating than it did. But why didn’t it? Because TNA failed to advertise it long enough so that fans that don’t normally watch TNA to know that Foley was going to make his debut, instead they just put him out there as soon as they could.

I remember an interview that Kevin Nash did a while back. Say what you want about Kevin Nash the man, but what he was saying was very true. TNA’s advertising/marketing is so horrible that people don’t even know wrestlers like Nash, Sting, Booker, Foley, e.t.c. are still wrestling. He said that at times, people will come up to him in an airport and ask him when he’s returning to wrestling.

That’s the reason why ratings aren’t going up higher than they should, because people simply don’t know about TNA. This once again, goes all the way back to their advertising/marketing being basically non-existent. Once that department is better, then I can almost guarantee that we will see an increase in ratings. TNA’s ratings are good but I honestly believe that they could be so much higher than they are considering all of the talent they have. Maybe not on par with Smackdown’s rating when they are in the 2.0’s, but definitely higher than the 1.0-1.3 they normally get.

 

[partyhardy]

Well i am a HUGE FAN OF TNA a little bit more then i am of wwe, i just think the reason they are not getting the huge rating and huge boost that wwe gets is because not a lot of people know about it and its on SPIKE for god Sack. Also it is always filmed in places like Texas and Orlando, I really think TNA needs to put money into expanding the franchise Meaning Doing adds and coming to states like California i would love to go to a TNA show, also they need to really do something more with there knokouts advertise them come on they get the highest rating during a show so lets change it up a little. But i think 1. move to a different network, 2. Showcase the Talent more on advertisement like commercials or magazine 3. Go to other places other then the west coast. and i think if TNA does these three things more and more people will watch it. I love it also add more television hours like maybe Tues cuz one night a week aint cutting it for me i hate waiting till the end of the week to wash my girls and boys!! BTW THEY ARE GETTING A LITTLE RECOGNITION WOO TAYLOR WILDE, THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE AND A.J. STYLES ARE ON MTV MADE, WOO BUT COME ON REALLY WHO WATCHES THAT SHOW ANYMORE BUT COME ON I WILL, WILL ALL OF YOU???

 

[Jack-Hammer]

As for TNA's rating's growing they're doing well. Right now TNA is averaging 1.2,1.3's when they first started they were doing 0.8's and 0.9's so there is an improvement. You also mentioned that TNA's ratings are close to Superstars but their ratings also close to Smackdown. The B show of WWE. The show that has huge stars like Rey Mysterio,Edge,Undertaker and Cm Punk.

True, but the problem with Smackdown isn't the talent or marketing necessarily, it's the channel it's on. As far as overall ratings go, MyNetworkTV is the third lowest rated English speaking channel in the United States. LOTS of wrestling fans live in areas in which the channel isn't available. The network is mostly relegated to low-powered stations in some smaller markets, which do not have must-carry status. The arrival of Smackdown to the network has really shown this, as many wrestling fans have complained about the availability issues in several markets that have The CW but not MyNetworkTV. I'm only able to watch the show on Saturday night's at 11:35 pm due to some sort of situation involving WTVQ, a station in Lexington, Ky. WTVQ is an ABC affiliate and lots of viewers here in the Bluegrass State compllained quite a bit, so the station agreed to move its weather digital subchannel to 36.3 and convert its former spot on 36.2 into a MyNetworkTV affiliate. And this has only taken place within the past several months.

Right now, Smackdown's pulling in around a 1.9-2.0 on average when it was flirting with 3s a year ago. Quality of the show has definitely improved so, overall, it has more to do with a lack of availability regarding Smackdown than it does for anything TNA is doing with its product.

 

[Lazerball]

it doesnt matter wat talent they bring in, no one seems to get that. its about how they use the talent they have, and they are idiots plain and simple. there is nothing on TNA programming that makes anyone want to watch, it feels thrown together, and the only ones who still really get pushed are the old ass, wrestlers, im sorry but TNA is WCW II.

 

[Wasim Perviz]

TNA is doing all it can but for some reason the ratings are not going up and even I can not understand why. They have done so much and do have a great product yet ratings only remain basic and PPV buys worse.

 

[ProWrestling'sBrain]

Spike doesn't support TNA as much as for example UFC. I've seen some very entertaining episodes of Impact but the ratings just don't reflect the quality of the show. I agree that TNA needs to improve but even the current product is worthy of higher ratings and buy rates. I think WWE has sort of over saturated the market with all 4 of their shows which each get more advertisement than Impact.

That is partially true. Every once in awhile I might watch some movies on Spike such as Star Wars. I would notice they would fucking play UFC commercials to death (zzzzzz) while they would rarely or ever play commercials advertising an upcoming edition of iMPACT!. It kind of feels like TNA is in their own world under Spike's shadow with little attention.

I feel that TNA is really trying too hard to "shake things up" by signing "familiar faces" and changing other things with the promotion assuming that it would attract a large fan base. Like always, TNA is only attracting the same viewers that will always tune in no matter what changes are made. Rather than trying to force their own product down the throats of those who are already watching their television shows they just need to allow their selves to just be 'natural' and worry more about marketing. At late nights I always see WWE commercials from Comcast for an upcoming PPV on channels such as Nick @ Nite and Adult Swim. And unlike Spike with TNA, at least the USA Network takes the time to advertise WWE frequently throughout the day.

Another thing is this; TNA is only trying to attract WWE fans. Although it's good from a business perspective they should also try to attract new fans to their product. I don't know about others but whenever I come across to wrestling fans whether they are kids or "casual fans" they seem to know what TNA is however they just decide not to watch it because it doesn't interest them. TNA needs to find ways to be able to attract NEW people to professional wrestling. If TNA wants to become a success then they can't only rely on attracting WWE fans. Even if all 5 million regular viewers of Raw are are aware of the existence of TNA I doubt even a quarter of them would start following TNA regularly. If they want to become larger than the WWE then they're going to have to attract more than the people they are limited to attracting from a certain fan base. That is why the WWE is constantly attracting new fans because they try to market their product to older fans, kids and casual people who never watched a wrestling show before.

 

[Wasim Perviz]

That is partially true. Every once in awhile I might watch some movies on Spike such as Star Wars. I would notice they would fucking play UFC commercials to death (zzzzzz) while they would rarely or ever play commercials advertising an upcoming edition of iMPACT!. It kind of feels like TNA is in their own world under Spike's shadow with little attention.

I feel that TNA is really trying too hard to "shake things up" by signing "familiar faces" and changing other things with the promotion assuming that it would attract a large fan base. Like always, TNA is only attracting the same viewers that will always tune in no matter what changes are made. Rather than trying to force their own product down the throats of those who are already watching their television shows they just need to allow their selves to just be 'natural' and worry more about marketing. At late nights I always see WWE commercials from Comcast for an upcoming PPV on channels such as Nick @ Nite and Adult Swim. And unlike Spike with TNA, at least the USA Network takes the time to advertise WWE frequently throughout the day.

Another thing is this; TNA is only trying to attract WWE fans. Although it's good from a business perspective they should also try to attract new fans to their product. I don't know about others but whenever I come across to wrestling fans whether they are kids or "casual fans" they seem to know what TNA is however they just decide not to watch it because it doesn't interest them. TNA needs to find ways to be able to attract NEW people to professional wrestling. If TNA wants to become a success then they can't only rely on attracting WWE fans. If they want to become larger than the WWE then they're going to have to attract more than the people they are limited to attracting from a certain fan base. That is why the WWE is constantly attracting new fans because they try to market their product to older fans, kids and casual people who never watched a wrestling show before.

I feel TNA is not doing nothing wrong. I mean they are trying to get big names at the same time making superstars.

 

[Wrath]

True, but the problem with Smackdown isn't the talent or marketing necessarily, it's the channel it's on. As far as overall ratings go, MyNetworkTV is the third lowest rated English speaking channel in the United States. LOTS of wrestling fans live in areas in which the channel isn't available. The network is mostly relegated to low-powered stations in some smaller markets, which do not have must-carry status. The arrival of Smackdown to the network has really shown this, as many wrestling fans have complained about the availability issues in several markets that have The CW but not MyNetworkTV. I'm only able to watch the show on Saturday night's at 11:35 pm due to some sort of situation involving WTVQ, a station in Lexington, Ky. WTVQ is an ABC affiliate and lots of viewers here in the Bluegrass State compllained quite a bit, so the station agreed to move its weather digital subchannel to 36.3 and convert its former spot on 36.2 into a MyNetworkTV affiliate. And this has only taken place within the past several months.

Right now, Smackdown's pulling in around a 1.9-2.0 on average when it was flirting with 3s a year ago. Quality of the show has definitely improved so, overall, it has more to do with a lack of availability regarding Smackdown than it does for anything TNA is doing with its product.

I don't live in USA so I don't have much knowledge about networks and I don't even have an idea how nielsen rating system works but still it doesn't change the fact that they lost viewers. When SD first debuted ratings were 2.5's so it means they have reached that level but ratings suddenly dropped. TNA on the other hand has always gained viewers since it's debut. If they could've done 2.5's it means there are enough available viewers to watch the show.