By James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor

TNA Impact on Thursday, February 20 slid to a 0.95 rating, down 20 percent from last week's 1.18 rating.

It was the lowest rating since the first Impact of the year on January 2. Impact was at or above a 1.08 rating the previous six weeks after the Jan. 2 show.

- Impact drew 1.093 million viewers, down 23 percent from last week's audience. It was the fewest viewers of the year.

- In the key demos of males 18-34 and males 18-49, Impact slid one-tenth of a rating compared to last week. Meanwhile, teen males did not register a number.

- On cable TV Thursday night, Impact ranked #48 in overall viewers, #23 in males 18-34, and #24 in males 18-49. Impact was hurt by NBA on TNT, which drew nearly four million viewers for the NBA champion Miami Heat in action.

Also, Impact did not rank in the Top 100 cable TV shows among the broader demo of adults 18-49. It's bad timing when Channel Guide Magazine published Friday an interview with TNA president Dixie Carter claiming that TNA is diversifying its audience on Spike TV.

"I think in the past it’s really a network-mandated situation: What audience does the network want you to go after? In the beginning, it was a very solid male 18 to 49 audience, and we have had outstanding ratings in that category for nine years on Spike TV. We’ve continued to grow them but the network is changing a little bit to target more female viewers - a new direction for them," Carter told the magazine.

"So, we’re shifting our focus a little bit. Our storylines are becoming a little bit broader, appealing to more of a female demographic and a family demographic than they may have before. We just started that probably three, four months ago and the numbers are already rising. I think our storylines are trying to appeal to that new group and I’m really excited that it’s working."

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