By James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor

-- CLICK HERE for Impact TV ratings report (App Users: TNA NEWS section).

TNA Impact on Thursday, April 18 officially scored a 0.97 rating off a first hour 0.91 rating and second hour 1.03 rating.

The second hour rating was identical to last week's show, which was the lowest-rated of the year. The only difference was this week's first hour did not start with eye-poppingly low ratings in the first 30 minutes. But, the first hour remains an issue in the earlier timeslot.

Within the second hour, there should be concern over a descending ratings pattern. The highest rating od the show was 1.07 rating in Q5 for the Knockouts, then Impact steadily dropped off before reaching a 1.00 rating in Q8 for A.J. Styles's in-ring return. It was the lowest-rated eighth-quarter-hour rating of the year.

First Hour Break Down

Q1: Impact opened with a 0.81 rating, which was not much of an improvement from a 0.75 rating to open the show last week. The segment featured the first-half of Kurt Angle vs. Wes Brisco & Garett Bischoff in a handicap match and one commercial.

Q2: Impact began climbing with a 0.90 rating, which was the biggest difference from last week - Q2 last week scored a 0.79 rating. The segment featured the second-half of the Angle handicap match, one commercial, and the first-half of the X Division three-way title match.

Q3: Impact continued climbing with a 0.96 rating for the second-half of the X Title match, one commercial, and Aces & Eights beating down Magnus.

Q4: Impact stayed at a 0.96 rating for a segment with various video segments, backstage segments, and two full commercial breaks.

Second Hour Break Down

Q5: Impact got its usual top-of-the-second-hour bump to a show-high 1.07 rating for the Knockouts #1 contender match between Mickie James and Miss Tessmacher, plus one commercial. By comparison, the fifth-quarter-hour of Impact has averaged a 1.20 rating in 2013.

Q6: Impact began descending with a 1.02 rating for an in-ring segment focused on the top tag teams, one commercial, and follow-up on Jeff Hardy's injury angle last week on Impact.

Q7: Impact continued descending with a 1.01 rating for Devon vs. Samoa Joe for the TV Title, one commercial, ring introductions for the main event, and the first three minutes of James Storm vs. A.J. Styles, who was making his Impact TV return.

Q8: Impact concluded its descent with a 1.00 flat rating for one commercial, then the conclusion of Storm vs. Styles and Aces & Eights's post-match beat down on Storm, Daniels, and Kazarian.

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

We suggest these recent related articles...

TV RATINGS: TNA Impact & ROH TV viewership - Week 19 on Dest. America - Impact surges post-BFG, ROH draws big audience

TV WRESTLING VIEWERSHIP - Week of Sept. 28: Full Break Down of last week's Pro Wrestling TV with DVR viewing

TNA NEWS: TNA announces TV tapings on January U.K. Tour