iMPACT Wrestling: iMPACT Wrestling Goes Live and Starts an Hour Earlier (January 2012 – December 2012)
The biggest change for iMPACT Wrestling’s domestic television programming in 2012 came right at the beginning of the summer months. In May 2012, Spike TV and TNA Wrestling agreed to start the show an hour earlier with an official start time of 8:00pm versus the old 9:00pm start time. However, the change that had the greatest impact on television viewers and iMPACT Wrestling was the decision to take the show live for the summer months. This change was so successful that Dixie Carter and her team decided to keep the shows live for nearly every show remaining in 2012. In addition to these two changes, iMPACT Wrestling also introduced specifically-themed episodes of the Thursday night show including Championship Thursday and Open Fight Night.
Overall, the ratings for the show took a bit of a dip in 2012, but that reality is tempered by the fact that the show began airing an hour earlier midway through the year. Further, moving the show to start an hour earlier dropped overall viewership by approximately 200,000 to 300,000 each week.
Remember, though, the total viewership for any one episode of iMPACT Wrestling is hard to estimate. On his Twitter account, Eric Bischoff suggests that DVR numbers can add a total of 10% to 12% to the final viewership numbers. Historically, we’ve seen DVR+1 and DVR+3 figures (the amount of people who watch the show on their DVR within one day and three days of recording it) add 200,000 more viewers to the final viewership numbers reported below. Plus, Spike.com uploads each full episode of iMPACT Wrestling to its website for free online streaming for approximately a four month period. The streaming versions of the show on Spike.com typically generate between 5,000 and 20,000 views before they are taken down (some special episodes have many more viewers, others have less). Also, the TNA channel on YouTube posts a large portion of each episode online with no expiration date. These YouTube clips typically bring in between 10,000 and 50,000 viewers. However, as DVR, Spike.com, and YouTube viewers are not included in the television viewership estimates below, these figures are rarely if ever reported by professional wrestling “news” websites. We feel that it is necessary to report this information in order to provide a full definition for the entire spectrum of viewers for each episode.
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| January 5, 2012 | 1.11 (1.18 / 1.05) | 1,595,000 |
| January 12, 2012 | 1.13 (1.17 / 1.10) | 1,604,000 |
| January 19, 2012 | 1.20 (1.20 / 1.19) | 1,675,000 |
| January 26, 2012 | 1.17 (1.19 / 1.15) | 1,597,000 |
| February 2, 2012 | 1.16 (1.14 / 1.18) | 1,613,000 |
| Show Notes: | The February 2nd episode of iMPACT Wrestling was part of the first set of tapings to ever take place outside of the United States. The show was taped on January 28, 2012 in Wembley Arena in London, England. The live attendance at the show was the largest attendance for any televised show in iMPACT Wrestling history and the second largest crowd (televised or house show) in the promotion’s history. | |
| February 9, 2012 | 1.05 (1.04 / 1.07) | 1,502,000 |
| Show Notes: | The February 9th episode of iMPACT Wrestling was part of the first set of tapings to ever take place outside of the United States. The show was taped on January 28, 2012 in Wembley Arena in London, England. The live attendance at the show was the largest attendance for any televised show in iMPACT Wrestling history and the second largest crowd (televised or house show) in the promotion’s history. | |
| February 16, 2012 | 1.06 (1.02 / 1.10) | 1,524,000 |
| February 23, 2012 | 1.19 (1.17 / 1.22) | 1,582,000 |
| March 1, 2012 | 0.99 (1.02 / 0.97) | 1,333,000 |
| March 8, 2012 | 1.03 (1.06 / 1.00) | 1,401,000 |
| March 15, 2012 | 1.03 (1.05 / 1.02) | 1,448,000 |
| March 22, 2012 | 1.09 (1.11 / 1.07) | 1,489,000 |
| March 29, 2012 | 1.05 (1.07 / 1.03) | 1,363,000 |
| April 5, 2012 | 1.12 (1.10 / 1.15) | 1,477,000 |
| April 12, 2012 | 0.98 (0.91 / 1.06) | 1,395,000 |
| April 19, 2012 | 0.96 (0.91 / 1.01) | 1,308,000 |
| April 26, 2012 | 0.99 (0.94 / 1.04) | 1,453,000 |
| Show Notes: | The April 26th episode marked the first Open Fight Night themed show. | |
| May 3, 2012 | 0.98 (0.97 / 0.99) | 1,399,000 |
| May 10, 2012 | 1.11 (1.02 / 1.20) | 1,533,000 |
| May 17, 2012 | 1.08 (1.02 / 1.14) | 1,476,000 |
| May 24, 2012 | 1.01 (0.91 / 1.10) | 1,434,000 |
| Show Notes: | The May 24th episode marked the second Open Fight Night themed show. | |
| May 31, 2012 | 0.89 (0.78 / 1.00) | 1,296,000 |
| Show Notes: | The May 31st episode of iMPACT Wrestling was the first of a summer-long promotion featuring live shows on Spike TV. Also, this episode was the first show to air at the new 8:00pm EST start time on Spike TV. | |
| June 7, 2012 | 0.98 (0.88 / 1.08) | 1,252,000 |
| Show Notes: | The June 7th episode of iMPACT Wrestling was the second of a summer-long promotion featuring live shows on Spike TV. | |
| June 14, 2012 | 1.02 (0.94 / 1.11) | 1,341,000 |
| Show Notes: | The June 14th episode of iMPACT Wrestling was the third of a summer-long promotion featuring live shows on Spike TV. | |
| June 21, 2012 | 0.95 (0.90 / 1.00) | 1,237,000 |
| Show Notes: | The June 21st episode of iMPACT Wrestling was the fourth of a summer-long promotion featuring live shows on Spike TV. It also marked the third Open Fight Night themed show. | |
| June 28, 2012 | 0.97 (0.87 / 1.07) | 1,262,000 |
| Show Notes: | The June 28th episode of iMPACT Wrestling was the fifth of a summer-long promotion featuring live shows on Spike TV. | |
| July 5, 2012 | 0.99 (0.92 / 1.05) | 1,485,000 |
| Show Notes: | The July 5th episode of iMPACT Wrestling was the sixth of a summer-long promotion featuring live shows on Spike TV. | |
| July 12, 2012 | 0.85 (0.85 / 0.86) | 1,108,000 |
| Show Notes: | The July 12th episode of iMPACT Wrestling was the seventh of a summer-long promotion featuring live shows on Spike TV. It was also the first show to air without the benefit of DirecTV viewership and thus fell out of the top 50 cable shows for the night. | |
| July 19, 2012 | 0.91 (0.85 / 0.97) | 1,316,000 |
| Show Notes: | The July 19th episode of iMPACT Wrestling was the eighth of a summer-long promotion featuring live shows on Spike TV. It was also the second show to air without the benefit of DirecTV viewership and thus fell out of the top 50 cable shows for the night. It also marked the fourth Open Fight Night themed show. | |
| July 26, 2012 | 1.09 (1.02 / 1.16) | 1,578,000 |
| Show Notes: | The July 26th episode of iMPACT Wrestling was the ninth of a summer-long promotion featuring live shows on Spike TV. It was the first show to air after DirecTV began showing Viacom programming once again. | |
| August 2, 2012 | 1.00 (0.92 / 1.09) | 1,400,000 |
| Show Notes: | The August 2nd episode of iMPACT Wrestling was the tenth of a summer-long promotion featuring live shows on Spike TV. | |
| August 9, 2012 | 0.90 (0.82 / 0.98) | 1,210,000 |
| Show Notes: | The August 9th episode of iMPACT Wrestling was the eleventh of a summer-long promotion featuring live shows on Spike TV. | |
| August 16, 2012 | 1.06 (0.94 / 1.17) | 1,456,000 |
| Show Notes: | The August 16th episode of iMPACT Wrestling was the twelfth of a summer-long promotion featuring live shows on Spike TV. | |
| August 23, 2012 | 1.15 (1.13 / 1.17) | 1,717,000 |
| Show Notes: | The August 23rd episode of iMPACT Wrestling was the thirteenth of a summer-long promotion featuring live shows on Spike TV. It also marked the fifth Open Fight Night themed show. | |
| August 30, 2012 | 1.07 (1.07 / 1.07) | 1,416,000 |
| Show Notes: | The August 30th episode of iMPACT Wrestling was the fourteenth and final episode of a summer-long promotion featuring live shows on Spike TV. | |
| September 6, 2012 | 0.94 (0.89 / 1.00) | 1,217,000 |
| Show Notes: | The September 6th episode of iMPACT Wrestling was the first of a month-long promotion featuring live episodes airing on Spike TV. This is an extension of the wildly successful summer 2012 promotion featuring live weekly episodes of the show. It was also the first Championship Thursday themed episode of the show. | |
| September 13, 2012 | 0.97 (0.86 / 1.07) | 1,224,000 |
| Show Notes: | The September 13th episode of iMPACT Wrestling was the second of a month-long promotion featuring live episodes airing on Spike TV. | |
| September 20, 2012 | 1.01 (0.93 / 1.09) | 1,340,000 |
| Show Notes: | The September 20th episode of iMPACT Wrestling was the first of a promotion to keep iMPACT Wrestling airing live episodes on Spike TV through the end of 2012. It also marked the sixth Open Fight Night themed show. | |
| September 27, 2012 | 0.99 (0.95 / 1.03) | 1,265,000 |
| Show Notes: | The September 27th show was the second Championship Thursday themed episode. | |
| October 4, 2012 | 0.84 (0.78 / 0.90) | 1,058,000 |
| October 11, 2012 | 0.87 (0.82 / 0.92) | 1,118,000 |
| October 18, 2012 | 0.99 (0.95 / 1.03) | 1,248,000 |
| October 25, 2012 | 0.97 (0.92 / 1.02) | 1,187,000 |
| Show Notes: | The October 25th show was the third Championship Thursday themed episode. | |
| November 1, 2012 | 0.95 (0.91 / 1.00) | 1,248,000 |
| Show Notes: | The November 1st show was the seventh Open Fight Night themed episode. | |
| November 8, 2012 | 1.03 (0.96 / 1.09) | 1,266,000 |
| November 15, 2012 | 1.07 (1.01 / 1.14) | 1,353,000 |
| Show Notes: | The November 15th show was the first taped episode to air since May 24, 2012. | |
| November 22, 2012 | 0.77 (0.67 / 0.86) | 1,187,000 |
| Show Notes: | The November 22nd show aired on Thanksgiving and was the eighth Open Fight Night themed episode. | |
| November 29, 2012 | 1.01 (0.96 / 1.06) | 1,304,000 |
| Show Notes: | The November 29th show was the fourth Championship Thursday themed episode. | |
| December 6, 2012 | 0.98 (0.94 / 1.02) | 1,323,000 |
| December 13, 2012 | 0.95 (0.88 / 1.01) | 1,242,000 |
| December 20, 2012 | 0.99 (0.96 / 1.02) | 1,270,000 |
| Show Notes: | The December 20th show was the fifth Championship Thursday themed episode. | |
| December 27, 2012 | 0.95 (0.91 / 0.99) | 1,333,000 |
| Show Notes: | The December 27th show was the ninth Open Fight Night themed episode. | |
| Yearly Average | 1.01 (0.97 / 1.06) | 1,374,192 |