By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

Thursday's episode of TNA Impact scored a 1.25 overall rating. The first hour scored a 1.31 rating and the second hour scored a 1.19 rating.

First Hour Breakdown

-- Impact opened with a 1.41 rating in Q1 for Mr. Anderson and Matt Morgan's exchange following up on the events at the Genesis PPV. This was followed by Immortal's exchange with Anderson and subsequent backstage beat down of Anderson and Rob Van Dam.

After the peak rating of the broadcast in Q1, the show began a steady decline from the 1.40 level to the 1.30 level to the mid-1.20 level to below 1.10 in Q7.

-- Impact scored a 1.31 rating in Q2. The 15-minute segment featured the first-half of TNA tag champs Beer Money vs. Motor City Machineguns and one commercial break.

-- In Q3, Impact declined slightly to a 1.28 rating in Q3 for the second-half of Guns vs. Beer Money, Samoa Joe and The Pope's in-ring promo exchange, and one commercial break.

-- Impact hit its lowest level of the first hour in Q4 with a 1.23 rating. The segment featured backstage segments involving the Hardys, Jarrett & Karen, Flair & Styles & Bischoff, and two commercial breaks.

Second Hour Breakdown

-- Impact rebounded to a 1.29 rating in Q5 to begin the second hour, which is typically when Impact peaks each week. It was the highest rating Impact scored the rest of the show.

The segment featured the strategically-placed Jarrett-Angle-Karen exchange followed by the Knockouts Tag Title match of Angelina Love & Winter vs. Madison Rayne & Tara.

-- Impact dropped slightly in Q6 to the overall show's average of a 1.25 rating. The segment featured Matt Morgan vs. Abyss and a post-match angle, plus the Hardys backstage, and one commercial.

-- Impact then bottomed out in Q7 with a 1.07 rating for the main event ring introductions and first half of the main event - Mr. Anderson & RVD vs. the Hardys in their reunion match. Also, two commercial breaks were contained in Q7.

Looking at the drop-off from the two peaks of the show, Q7 was down 24 percent vs. Q1 and down 17 percent vs. Q5 at the top of the second hour.

-- Impact then increased to a 1.16 rating in Q8 for the conclusion of Hardys vs. Anderson & RVD, a post-match angle, and one commercial break. It was down 10 percent compared to the second hour peak rating in Q8.

Caldwell's Analysis: Based on the strong ratings early in the show, it indicates there was interest in the post-Genesis fall-out coming off a PPV on Sunday. Based on the drop-off the rest of the show, it shows TNA still has to work to do retaining an audience over a two-hour period.

Props to TNA for promoting matches in advance the next three episodes, but they did not effectively promote the matches on this week's episode, as evidenced by the relatively weak ratings in the final 30 minutes of the show. It's also such a consistent pattern for Impact that it's another reminder they need to re-consider the booking philosophy and interject some new ideas into their promotional efforts. Fresh ideas from different minds wouldn't hurt at this point when the pattern repeats itself over and over.

Or, their audience simply cannot sit through a two-hour episode of Impact and they're drawn away to other things after the first 15-30 minutes of the second hour. This happens on a near-weekly basis that TNA and Spike may want to consider 90-minute episodes of Impact and using the final half-hour for a Reaction-style show reinforcing the main matches and angles from Impact to build upon itself for future weeks. A fresh approach would be benefit TNA based on this ratings pattern that has continued even after Reaction was taken off the air.

[Torch art credit Grant Gould (c) PWTorch.com]

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