The much-hyped debut of TNA Impact in its new Monday night time slot opposite Raw last week produced a surprisingly low 1.0 rating, but the good news for TNA is that a replay of the show on Thursday also did a 1.0, according to pwinsider.com.
That's a high number for a replay and has to make people at TNA feel better about the disappointing number for Monday's show. It seems to indicate that viewers may not have been motivated to choose Impact over Raw on Monday or even switch back and forth, but they were interested enough in the show to watch it in its former time slot.
It's not unusual for any TV show's ratings to drop when it changes days, because viewers are so used to watching at the same time every week. However, when TNA did a Monday night special on Jan. 4, it drew the highest rating in company history – and that was the night that Bret Hart returned to WWE after a 12-year absence. The major difference with that episode of Impact was that it was on for three hours rather than two.
As much as TNA wants to go head to head with Raw, it might be worth considering moving the Monday show to 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. That way, they're still going up against Raw, but they get one hour all to themselves and have an opportunity to set up a big match or angle for the second hour that might make viewers want to stay with the show or at least switch back to it periodically.
TNA might also want to think about continuing to broadcast a replay on Thursday, although that doesn't seem to be the plan at the moment. According to Spike TV's Web site, the movie "Predator" is scheduled for that slot this week.
In theory, a replay could negatively affect the Monday ratings moving forward, although not necessarily, because during the first Monday Night War, WCW Nitro was beating Raw even though Nitro showed a replay immediately after the live show ended. Regardless, TNA should be more concerned about growing its audience – or at the very least maintaining it – than winning a ratings war that probably isn't winnable in the near future or possibly ever anyway.