2-28-13 Impact Ratings: Jeff Hardy Returns + Brings Audience Back With Him!

Last edited by King Silva on Mon 04 Mar 2013, 10:43 pm; edited 1 time in total

http://pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/TNA_News_1/article_69027.shtml

TNA Impact on Thursday, February 28 scored a 1.14 rating, up 10 percent from a 1.02 rating last week.

Impact averaged 1.493 million viewers, also up 10 percent from last week's average viewership.

The Impact episode featuring Jeff Hardy's return after a four-week absence showed drastic improvements in the key male demographics, registering a year-high in males 18-49 and near-year-high in males 18-34.

On cable TV Thursday night, Impact ranked #26 in overall viewers, #27 in m18-34, and #15 in m18-49. These are the highest rankings since 2012. TNA has not cracked the Top 10 in several months, but they are closer than they have been at any point this year.

Momentum from Impact's strong demographic performance appeared to carry over to Bellator MMA, as Bellator outdrew Impact in m18-34 and was slightly behind Impact in m18-49.

Both Impact and Bellator are appointment viewing for wrestling and MMA fans, respectively, with slight over-lap, but Spike had its strongest collective performance since the four-hour block was launched in January.

Wade Keller's Analysis: I think this is evidence of the Jeff Hardy effect. When TNA said he wouldn't be back for several weeks, ratings dropped. They plugged he'd be back this week, and ratings shot back up.

Typical Terrible TNA Television Rating. So sad.

Yeah it is sad they can never grow their ratings higher after all these years. :-/

At least it was up 10% from last week though.

http://pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/TNA_News_1/article_69075.shtml

TNA Impact on Thursday, February 28 officially scored a 1.14 rating off a first hour 1.05 rating and second hour 1.24 rating.

The episode featured Jeff Hardy's return after a four-week absence, which came into play throughout the show's quarter-hour ratings trend. Impact opened with one of the highest Q1 ratings of the year (1.08) when Hardy returned, but then fell off. Then, Impact scored one of the highest Q5 ratings of the year (1.31), but steadily declined over the remainder of the second hour.

First Hour Break Down

Q1: Impact opened with a 1.08 rating for Bully Ray's show-opening promo, Jeff Hardy returning to TV, and Daniels & Kaz interrupting to set up the TV main event. There was also half of a commercial.

Q2: Impact dropped to a 0.97 rating for Velvet Sky vs. Tara in one of two Knockouts matches this week. Pre-match intros went longer than the match, though, and there were one-and-a-half commercial breaks.

Q3: Impact increased to a 1.04 rating for Austin Aries vs. Hernandez and one commercial.

Q4: Impact increased to a first-hour-high 1.10 rating for Kenny King capturing the X Division Title from Rob Van Dam and two full commercial breaks. It appears that even the minimalist of hype (as opposed to zero hype) for an X Division Title match has potential to attract an audience.

Second Hour Break Down

Q5: Impact popped to a 1.31 rating with a new wave of viewers tuning in to see Jeff Hardy, but finding Aces & Eights instead. Sting then joined the discussion to announce his team for Lethal Lockdown before a fight broke out. There was also one commercial.

Q6: Impact began its steady decline with a 1.27 rating for various videos and backstage segments wrapped around Ivelisse Veliz vs. Lei'd Tapa in a Knockouts Gut Check Challenge match.

Q7: Impact dipped again to a 1.23 rating for an update on A.J. Styles, a skit involving the Robbies, and hype for the TV main event.

Q8: Impact fell to a second-hour-low 1.13 rating for Jeff Hardy & Bully Ray vs. Daniels & Kazarian in the main event.

Caldwell's Analysis: The general conclusion is that fans tuned in at the top of the first hour to see Hardy, then a new wave of viewers tuned in at the top of the second hour to see Hardy, but Hardy was not involved in Q5 since he returned at the start of the show. Impact then steadily dropped off for the remainder of the second hour, falling to a 1.13 rating in Q8 for Hardy teaming with Bully Ray against Daniels and Kazarian.

Looking at the Q8 rating drop, it appears to be a combination of (a) the audience that tuned in at the start of the show not sticking around for the main event, (b) the audience that tuned in at the start of the second hour not being told that Hardy would be in action in the main event, and/or (c) the audience not wanting to see Hardy and Ray team up or feeling like Daniels & Kaz are not a threat to TNA's top faces since they mainly played comedy heels on the recent U.K. Tour.

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