TNA iMPACT rating drops to 0.6

[Michrome 0]

It boils down to this: Impact is not must-see TV at all. If you miss it, you're not going to miss any great matches or big happenings. The Dudleys debut was important, and people kept watching, but then TNA started coasting on TV and lost viewers.

 

The idea that a promotion so low on the totem poll would start coasting on national TV, and even put together a PPV as half-assed as this past one is ridiculous. However, if they keep pumping out shows like this last one, they will push their way back to a .8 soon. However, it is becoming clear that Jarrett on top is not going to be a recipe for long term success.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

*Inserts comment about having too many PPVs and how it is negatively effecting their TV*

[Guest aural angel dust]

How do the first few weeks of TNA compare to the first few weeks of Velocity? Impact seems to be falling back down into that region.

[Dangerous A 0]

*Inserts comment about having too many PPVs and how it is negatively effecting their TV*

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Fuck yeah. Why does TNA feel the need to copy the WWE business model in regards to this particular area. They'll make much more money booking 7-8 properly promoted shows as opposed to 12 shows where potentiall more than half of the shows are going to be rush booked. With the cost of doing a ppv, are they even making money off of ppv?

 

Another fundamental problem is, yes broken record time, Jeff Jarrett. Usually you book to make money. TNA is booking to make Jeff Jarrett a star he'll never be and the company is suffering for it. On the Thursday prime time special, the viewership went from .9 to .7 for the main event. They lost viewers going into the main event of the show. That almost never happens on a wrestling show where you build to the main event. Rating is supposed to climb and peak for the ending, not drop. Plus, some of the audience was tipped off that Jarrett was getting the title back, so the prospect of an NWA title change to Jarrett turned people off. THAT is your biggest problem. The other little things mentioned throughout this folder don't help either.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

Another month of this and they'll be back to weekly PPVs, Russo, and The Dupp Cup.

[Carnival 0]

forgot about the .9....sorry dudes

[Magus 0]

I've watched only a few Impacts, and I honestly wasn't impressed. It's not that hard a choice when Fullmetal Alchemist and Samurai Champloo are playing over on Adult Swim.

 

TNA's problem is (surprise!) LACK OF CHARACTER AND STORY. No one has any distinguishable character. At best, they're cardboard cutouts of "I'm the good guy" and "I'm the bad guy". Half of the roster is like this. The booking goes from month-to-month with no long-term storyline to carry things and keep the viewer interested. While half the roster is milling around aimlessly, the other half has absolutely NOTHING in terms of character or storyline. The characters that the fans would know (the name wrestlers) are floundering instead of doing anything of interest. People don't want to see them rule the joint, anyway. TNA should be building up fresh faces to carry the company into the new era instead of invoking WCW's old strategy.

 

The jist is this: Brawling around with people and giving promos saying how you're gonna kick their ass in the next match isn't enough. There has to be some sort of emotional element involved. If they had someone who was competent booking this, we might see fueds that would extend a few months instead of booking everything on the fly. We might see compelling characters instead of cardboard cutouts.

[Exslade ZX 0]

I can say that I've just can't get used to the late time slot and missed both showings of it because of that.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[snuffbox 0]

The Monday night spot isnt too bad, especially for a replay. But Saturday night is pretty bleak for the young-male demographic. For middle/high school kids its one of the 2 nights off all week, and most can find something beyond tv those nights. For most post-highschool people Saturday is usually a busy time unless marriage/children struck early.

 

Better writing - Jeff + New Timeslot = I failed remedial math but maybe someone here can help me...

[Downhome 0]

I do not like TNA at all.  Basically, they do not have any storylines, let alone creative ones.  Their show is way too fast paced, nothing ever sinks in, it just gets annoying.  Their wrestlers have zero personality outside of Joe, Daniels and JJ's bad HHH personality.  The whole show is way too over-produced, it feels antiseptic, not gritty like a wrestling show should.  I feel like I am watching Battlebowl not an actual wrestling show.  They need to move into bigger arenas, and change the set, along with the booking.  They need to stop pushing everybody, and start pushing 3-4 people (not jj).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I'm a TNA fan, and I agree with just about all of that except the "I do not like TNA at all" line. I love watching the matches, but when it comes down to it, you need more to a show, and more behind the matches, other than just two guys going at it once again. If everyone had specific characters (not cartoony shit, just some sort of character, a personality), then it would at least be a little better, even if they didn't work with the storylines right now.

 

I also think it's insane for them to try to have a PPV every single month. Why would they even try to do that right now? How much money do they possibly make off of each one of them to make it be worth their while at this point in time?

 

In my opinion, they should only have a PPV every other month. Hell, I just about wish that WWE would do the same thing now. But TNA should really go to that setup. I mean, they only have one hour of TV a month, ONE FUCKING HOUR!!! How can you possibly build to a PPV, and have people going crazy wanting to order it, when you only have four hours of build. Hell, not even four total hours when it's all said and done.

 

Whoever decided to do a PPV every month was just out of their mind, and it's one of the worst decisions they have made up to this point. I don't even want to order a WWE PPV every single month now, much less TNA PPVs every month.

 

As far as the ratings go, I wouldn't panic right now unless the next rating that we see goes down also. I still think we should take the ratings with a grain of salt. Let's see how they do over the next few months, leading up to the Monday night prime-time slot in February. If that show bombs...then panic.

[Exslade ZX 0]

The Monday night spot isnt too bad, especially for a replay. But Saturday night is pretty bleak for the young-male demographic. For middle/high school kids its one of the 2 nights off all week, and most can find something beyond tv those nights. For most post-highschool people Saturday is usually a busy time unless marriage/children struck early.

 

Better writing - Jeff + New Timeslot = I failed remedial math but maybe someone here can help me...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

...possibly a 1.0? >_>

 

Nah, it would probaly do better. The problem for me is, with no TUF2 lead in, to remind me to turn to Spike, I comlpetely forget that it's on, and I always turned when there's 10-20 minutes left.

 

And well, like people have said, I just haven't been able to catch it Saturday's because I'm out doing something else.

[BoboBrazil 0]

TNA needs to give these guys characters. The only ones that actually have a character are the ones that came in from WWE with a character already besides Monty Brown, who isn't bad but his catchphrase sucks. He needs to drop the period part atleast. Which brings me to another point, which is most of these guys can't work a mic. When you sit and hear AJ Styles trying to cut a promo in his redneck voice it is hard to take him seriously and he is one of the better ones there . Then you have lame gimmicks like Team Canada. Noone gives a flying fuck about Team Canada. Kill the gimmick. People can say what they want, but when Vince Russo was booking shows in 2003 they were more entertaining than ever and they were growing audience every week for the ppvs. I was a huge fan of TNA when they first came out up until 2004, but I can't sit through a full show of theirs now, because they don't give me a reason to.

[claydude14 0]

Here's another thing about the PPVs, RAW and Smackdown! aren't even both on PPV every month. So TNA is building super fast PPV to PPV, and only have one hour each week to do it when the WWE brands get 2 hour shows, and aren't building to a PPV *every* month.

[razazteca 0]

Then "surprise" champion loses to Jarrett the next week and the cycle repeats itself...

[Guest [censored]]

Vince Russo = me no longer watching TNA period. Has everyone forgotten that he singel handly created the Jeff Jarrett monster based on a personal friendship. The only people in wresting I hate more than Vince Russo are Dusty Rhodes and Hulk Hogan.

 

TNA doesn't need Vince F-ing Russo to create characters, the best characters have always and will always be created by the wrestlers who portray them. Period. It boggles my mind that the people actually running wrestling companies fail the grasp this time and time again. They just need to set some time aside for wrestlers to talk and let the survival of fittest take place. The fans will tell you which wrestlers are working and which aren't and what feuds they want to see.

 

This brings me to the next point and biggest problem. No wrestling company in the history of wrestling has ever put on a quality and successful show when the booking is being controlled by on of the wrestlers. Whether it's dusty rhodes putting himself over ric flair or lex luger or Hogan and Nash controlling the WCW, it never works and never will. Jeff Jarrett is a fine wrestler but the fact remains that he was "created" as a main eventer by Vince Russo in wcw, at no time did the fans care enough about him to warrant his spot there. And now we are reaping the benefits of this. Jarrett may be capable of being at a ME event level in TNA but we will never know as long as he is involved in bookings which assures his character will be put over at the expense of everything else. A current wrestler should never, ever, ever have control over booking as they will never ever ever make good decisions.

 

Ask yourself this how much better would TNA be if instead of Jarrett we had Ron Killings in his full flown "The Truth" role at the top. Or hell even Abyss or AJ Styles who have actually created something the fans are invested in. IMO it would be much fresher and different than basically watching reruns of the last throes of WCW.

 

And this isn't to say Jarrett couldn't get to the main event level if he actually had to work his ass off like everyone else getting his character over in one of way or another. But he doesn't and it shows.

 

TNA needs to have a hard look at its roster and announcers and other staff and ask the following question about each one.

 

Does this persona help bring in more fans or keep our existing fans happy.

 

It's pretty easy actually

AJ Stles = yes

Abyss = yes

Don West = no

Billy Gun = no as singles, maybe as a reformed NAO so we should try that

[eirejmcmahon 0]

Surprised at this - thought the arrival of Christian and the fact that it was a post-PPV show would boost the ratings.

[CubbyBr 0]

I honestly think that they don't have anyone in the company that can book/write the type of product that can grow the audience. Mike Tenay and Scott D'Amore are not the answer. They really need to reach out to Paul Heyman and give him the head booker spot. That's the only guy that, in my opinion, can turn it around and who they have a chance of getting signed.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

They could have the best writing team on the planet, they still will have to deal with writing in the confines of an hour-long show and a PPV every month.

[Downhome 0]

How many total minutes is that to build for a PPV?

 

160?

 

180?

 

Then take that number, and pick out the total minutes that are actually being used to build for the PPV, after entrances and other flashy aspects.

 

It's not a lot at all.

 

It's just laughable for them to think this is the way to go and have it be successful.

 

If they want to copy WWE, they should at least put things into perspective. How many PPVs did WWE have a year when they first really started out on weekly national TV? Go back to 1993 when RAW first started, which was an hour show. They only had five or six PPVs back then. They also had Superstars and other stuff like that back then to work with a little bit.

 

They can't just jump onto the scene and expect to be on WWE's level instantly. They need a slow build, for a ton of reasons.

 

An hour show each week is fine, and have a PPV every other month, then perhaps on the months that they don't have a PPV, have a big two hour prime-time special, like Clash of the Champions, which would be used mainly to really build towards the PPV the following month.

 

What exactly is wrong with that format?

[Dangerous A 0]

No wrestling company in the history of wrestling has ever put on a quality and successful show when the booking is being controlled by on of the wrestlers.

 

 

Except Giant Baba.

 

 

And Hiroshi Hase.

 

 

And Mitsuharu Misawa.

 

 

And Ricky Choshu. (at least from 1991-96)

 

 

As far as NA, I can't think of any, but booking a wrestling company and being a wrestler can be done.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

If they get lucky, they have 4 shows between PPV's. When you factor-in after math and the hard-sell, it's really 2 shows to let things develop. That's about 160 minutes (4 x 40) to build for a 180 minute (3 hour) show. And there's about 20-30 wrestlers to get over during that time. The show can't get going like that, it can't build a following. Most of the audience doesn't even care about the PPV at this stage in the game, which is reflected in their post-PPV rating.

[Downhome 0]

What are some of the TNA PPV buyrate numbers?

[CubbyBr 0]

They could have the best writing team on the planet, they still will have to deal with writing in the confines of an hour-long show and a PPV every month.

 

Yeah, but the hour time slot is what they have to work with so they need to find a way to make it work for the time being. Throwing out 4-5 matches in a hour format is ridiculous. They should be putting out 2 or 3 competative matches that go in the 10 minute range (instead of 3 squashes and 1 competative match) and use the rest of the time for promos, angles, and character development.

 

I agree with whoever said that they should be doing a PPV every other month. They'd obviously have more buildup and they could use the prime time specials as TNA's Clash of the Champions-type events.

 

As far as the announcers go - I consider myself a hardcore fan that will always tape the show, order the PPV, etc but listening to Tenay and West screaming makes me want to change the channel... I can only imagine what casual fans that are channel surfing think. Same when they see a pudgy Scott D'Amore barking into the camera, Petey Williams singing "Oh Canada" in the middle of a match or Monty Brown wearing a leapord skin jacket. I know those are all little things and it seems like nit-picking but it's those little things that make people turn the channel. Many elements in the presentation are hokey...It's a big problem and no one in the company even seems to realize it or care about it.

[Astro101 0]

I just can't watch on Saturdays. I go for the replays like last night.

[Guest J-Man]

For the past while, I haven't seen the ratings for the Monday night replay timeslot. I know they were originally getting a .5 for the first two weeks, and peaked at a .6 one week (if I recall correctly) - but I haven't seen anything in awhile. What I was wondering was what have they been getting the last few weeks? Perhaps the replay is getting better ratings to make up for the lost viewership on Saturday nights? (probably just me hoping). 'Cause, they were getting 0.8 + 0.5, which was a combined rating of 1.3. Well, if they are only getting 0.6, but are now pulling off a 0.6 for the replays, then nothing really changed much.

 

I'm worried that TNA will look at this and say "HEY! We need more Jarrett, as Monty and Christian are OBVIOUSLY not drawing!". I was hoping for a HUGE (for TNA, that is) number so that TNA would see Christian as the new top man.

 

Still, like someone said, perhaps viewership will increase next week and from now on because of the buzz of Christians debut, and the fact that the last iMPACT! was a much more character driven show.

[Guest hasbeen]

I've finally trained myself to remember to record it. Most TV viewers don't care enough about it to do that.

[Guest God Junior]

I enjoy TNA but I have to admit that their isn't really much reason to watch their TV. You could pretty much watch PPV to PPV and not miss much, which shows how little happens on Impact!. I think their problem is that only having 4 hours to build for a PPV which has 7-9 matches on it, they can't have each storyline develop week to week. Rather, the 4 shows have to be divided up between all the storylines building to the PPV, which means that you get a lot of storylines having a "week off" after a show; some storylines only get two angles/matches to build for a match you're expecting people to pay to see, which is absolutely pathetic. Also, the feuds that do get week-to-week TV are ones I don't think anybody really cares about - does anybody care about Jarrett and Rhino going at it again? - although the Christian/Monty angle might change that, for me at least.

 

Anyway, the effect of this is that there's VERY few Impacts where at the end I find myself saying "Man, I can't wait to see what's gonna happen next week." more often it's "Man, I can't wait to see what's gonna happen on the PPV," because that's the only place that anything really interesting tends to happen. But most people aren't going to pay for a PPV because the TV isn't interesting.

[TNABaddboi 0]

PWI posted this about Monday's replay, and the ratings in genereal:

 

 

The TNA Impact replay on Monday evening did a 0.5 cable rating, with a 1.5 share, so it was only slightly below the 0.6 rating the series did on Saturday, which featured Christian Cage's Impact debut.

 

As one can imagine, there is concern internally about the Impact rating slipping the last few weeks. This is only a theory, but I can see a point being made for the ratings slide being partially caused by Spike TV bouncing TNA out of their Saturday timeslot several weeks ago. The show had been holding steady with .8 and .9 ratings and after it was removed for a week, began slipping. The flip side of the coin is that Spike gave them a two hour special that week, which did a .9, seen as solid by Spike and disappointing by TNA. It will be interesting to see where Impact's rating sits after they are moved again from their regular Saturday slot the weekend of 12/10 to Thursday 12/8 due to Spike's coverage of the Video Game Awards that weekend.

 

The unfortunate side of the recent ratings drop is that the TV shows have been solid and worth watching of late. In my opinion, The worst thing the company could do at this point is start hotshotting angles and storylines in an attempt to create a quick fix, because as history showed with WCW, that's just a way to dig your grave deeper. They don't want to turn a marathon into a sprint and end up burning themselves out. If anything, I think TNA should slow down a bit and focus more on character development, although Spike has pushed for a fast paced show based around action thus far. You have to keep the network happy but the only way an audience will ever truly connect with a character is if they can get inside it's head, know where it's coming from, where it's going, and why.

 

For those of you curious, after seven Impact episodes, the series is is averaging a 0.8 rating with .8 in Males 18-49 and a .8 in Males 18-34. The average audience has been 895,000 viewers. That's still a hell of a lot better then they were doing paying for the Fox Sports Network and being tossed all over the place depending on the market and that market's localized programming on any given week. They have found a small audience that may or may not grow over time, but they are still in a much better position then they were 6 months ago, especially if the PPV buyrates have jumped starting with the first PPV during the Spike regime, Bound for Glory.

 

Speaking of the Thursday 12/8 TNA special, the current plans are that it will be a one hour Impact episode, not a second two hour special.

[Papacita 0]

You know, if TNA must stick to the current formula they've got now with the monthly PPV builds and what not, I think their shows would benefit a lot if they just added a PPV control center segment or even something like the old ECW Pulp Fiction segments just to get you caught up on everything. I think the biggest problem I've had with TNA since I've been watching is that a lot of times it's hard to keep track of just why everybody is fighting. I'll cite the Sabu/Abyss feud as an example, as I can understand the thing with Abyss fearing barbwire, but I'm not 100% sure why they're even fighting. I think that a simple control center thing would go a long way to resolving this, and it may even help the overall quality of the shows as they probably wouldn't have to try and cram everybody into the shows every week.

[Fro 0]

The rating for the replay is pretty good. Shows at least some of the audience decided to watch on Monday Night instead of Saturday this week (perhaps because of a certain Fresno State v.s. USC barnburner that was on late).