TNA Impact! Sees a Slight Ratings Dip, Did the Olympics Take Away Viewers?

It has been a bit of a rough summer for TNA in the ratings department. A new time slot, Viacom and DirecTV could not get along, and now the Olympics. Yet, it has managed to make itself a much better product.

Possibly the best product presentation in its short history.

Did the August 2 edition of Impact! Wrestling suffer from the Olympics coverage? Considering what TNA was up against, they did not fare too bad in the ratings.

After last week's highest-rated show, Impact! Wrestling saw a slight drop in this week's ratings (via TV By the Numbers).

Overall on Thursday night, Impact! has a total of 1.4 million viewers. It was also ranked in the top 40 in cable TV viewing and No. 8 among adults aged 18-49. 

Meanwhile, the Olympics had over 36 million viewers (via TV By the Numbers).

My Quick Take on Impact! Wrestling's Rating

All things considered, I think TNA officials should be pleased that Impact! did not take a major dip in the ratings and actually saw their position move a bit higher in the overall television rankings. The Olympics posted some pretty impressive numbers; yet, Impact! held up on its end.

The live format has been very successful for TNA Wrestling. It will be interesting to see how Impact! performs during the fall television season. As much as I would love to see Impact! continue to go live, TNA needs to continue its course and stay consistent with its product while going back to a taped format.

TNA deserves much higher ratings but tough competition is hurting them achieve those numbers. As long as its product is improving, and fans are beginning to trust TNA once again, Impact! Wrestling could eventually see ratings it deserves.