Spike TV Not Continuing TNA iMPACT! Replay; TNA’s Reaction to Strong Ratings

Following news breaking of TNA’s Thursday iMPACT! replay pulling a surprisingly strong rating, Spike TV still has no plans to air the replay as a fixture of its Thursday lineup; this coming Thursday, for instance, will see the timeslot occupied by the movie “Predator.”

PWInsider.com confirmed Friday that iMPACT’s replay averaged a 0.97 rating with 1.3 million viewers, marking a very minor decline from Monday’s original airing (0.98, 1.4 million). While there have been past instances of a TNA iMPACT! replay generating a strong number, never has retention from the original been 99% in the cable household number and more than 90% in total viewers.

The issue raises one of the most disputed questions in television ratings analysis, as it is never clear why some programs seem to replay so well outside of their timeslot (The CW’s recently-abandoned Wednesday replay of “Life UneXpected” is another example–that airing was often pulling 80% of the original Monday audience and yet never produced additional viewers for the Monday showing). And regardless of the reason, almost all analysis would lead to a conclusion that next Monday’s airing, especially without a Thursday replay programmed into the lineup, should see a massive ratings boost, something that is almost definitely not going to happen.

If, for instance, viewers had been unaware that TNA was moving to Monday, the confusion should now be corrected. If, instead, viewers were watching to witness the unadvertised appearances from RVD and Jeff Hardy, that buzz, too, should lead to increased interest come the next episode on Monday as viewers await the follow-up.

But with Monday’s rating not likely to increase notably–and certainly not going to achieve the sum of the audiences from this past Monday and Thursday–the analysis effectively proves moot. The only true takeaway is the fact that there exists a loyal audience on Thursday, and had the original episode aired in that slot instead of Monday, it would have popped a rating far in excess of Monday’s 0.98.

Spike TV could spin the strong replay as evidence that viewers are curious about the weekly iMPACT! airing and will catch the show on DVR in the future, but even if that proves true, it still signals that going head-to-head with RAW is hurting the show’s audience.

Update: As an update to the above story, it seems TNA was internally concerned that such a high volume of viewers tuned into Thursday’s TNA iMPACT! replay, fearing that the Thursday showing cut into the Monday audience. TNA President Dixie Carter Tweeted, “TNA iMPACT! will NOT re-air on Thursdays. If you can’t watch LIVE Mondays 9-11pm ET on SPIKE, please DVR it. PLEASE RT.”