Source: TNAStars.com
The final cable rating and viewership estimates for last night’s episode of iMPACT Wrestling on Spike TV are now available. The numbers show that last night’s episode jumped back up to solid levels in terms of both the final rating and the estimated viewership numbers. Last night’s episode of the show scored a final cable rating of 1.29 which represented about 1,702,000 viewers over the course of the show’s two hours.
Last night’s final rating is 0.15 of a point higher and approximately 180,000 more viewers than last week’s episode, which scored a final cable rating of 1.14 with an average audience of 1,522,000 viewers.
When we know more about how last night’s show scored hour-by-hour, we’ll post it here so check back on Monday! Last night’s episode of iMPACT Wrestling on Spike TV had more total viewers than prime time and late night programming on other cable channels with a national audience including FX, the Cartoon Network, A&E, Comedy Central, USA Network, Tru TV, the Food Network, Discovery, TBS, History, and HGTV – among others.
It is also worth noting that the show’s total viewership is hard to estimate. This is because DVR+3 figures (the amount of people who watch the show on their DVR within three days of recording it) usually adds about 200,000 more viewers in addition to the viewership number reported above. Plus, Spike.com uploads each full episode of iMPACT Wrestling to its website for free online streaming for a three month period. The online streaming versions of the show typically generate about 20,000 views before they are taken down (some episodes have many more viewers, others have less). However, there is no way to know whether or not DVR or online viewers are part of the original viewership estimate, so these figures are rarely reported by wrestling websites (but they’re still good to know!).
If you’re interested in iMPACT Wrestling’s ratings performance for 2010 and 2011, then check out TNAStars.com’s Ratings War area. In the Ratings War area you can see a comparison of iMPACT Wrestling vs. Monday Night RAW from the spring of 2010 and iMPACT Wrestling vs. Superstars from all of 2010 and the first part of 2011. Also, you can see a comparison of iMPACT Wrestling’s viewership numbers from week-to-week in 2011. Enjoy!
FYI – I amended the data to reflect the revised, increased final ratings number of 1.29.
I really do get tired of ranting against the dirt sheets all the time, but I read some coverage of this very good rating and it’s more crap from the sheets. Instead of praising TNA for drawing so many viewers they are focusing on the week to week increase being a result of the World Series Game 6 the week before as if this bump was due to no competition.
If they weren’t so intent on spinning things negatively they would point out the previous week drop was due to the compelling game 6. If there had been no game six we likely wold be looking at a 3 week stretch of over 1.7 million viewers!
1.29? Others are reporting 1.27. Is this true? Regardless, good on TNA.
Initial reports were a 1.27, but that was revised to a 1.285 (rounded up to a 1.29) when the quarter hours came in. It’s common for the final rating to be revised (slightly up or slightly down; the revision is usually never a big swing) – it happens every once in a while.
And as for the dirt sheets – they’re just going to keep on hating. I think what it comes down to more than anything else is Eric Bischoff. The thing is that he absolutely tears apart the fabrication, lies, and conjecture that are widespread among internet wrestling “news” sites. He destroys the “facts” that these “reporters” try to put out there in a way that almost strips the reporters bare. Frankly, it’s brilliant.
Bischoff has a way of not just saying, “No, that’s not true and there is no basis for that news report,” but a way of saying that statement so it leaves all doubt about the veracity of the story. And I think the dirt sheets don’t just hate that ability – they loathe the fact that Bischoff doesn’t back down from them. Remember, the dirt sheets need the visitors. They need the hits. More visitors and/or more hits = higher revenue (that is about as reductionist as I can make the economics of owning a website, but it gets right to the point). What brings in more visitors and more hits? Well, in the internet wrestling world the only method that has proven to bring in revenue is fabrication, lies, and conjecture.
Personally, I reject that conclusion as the only way to make a wrestling website work. I’d like to think that the leaders of the dirt sheets would have at least one shred of their dignity left where they could break free from the bullshit, but the truth that I’ve learned after doing this for nearly 16 years is that they don’t have any dignity left. They’re like addicts looking for their next fix. In other words, they need to put out more conjecture and more bullshit in order to get the one more hit, in order to get one more visitor… in order to get the next paycheck.
Another reason why I’m glad that I’ve never been in this for the money. 🙂