ROH And TNA Viewership Increases This Week, What Does It Mean For The Future?
So far, it appears that the sharing of the Destination America network between Ring of Honor and TNA has benefited both companies.
The June 10 edition of Ring of Honor Wrestling on Destination America, the second show ROH has aired on the network, showed an increase in viewers.
The June 10 ROH show drew 161,000 viewers during the first airing at 8 p.m. EST. This was slightly down from last week’s (June 3) first airing, which drew 163,000 at 8 p.m.
The ROH replay, following TNA’s Impact Wrestling, at 11 p.m. EST drew 138,000 viewers. This was up from last week’s replay, which drew 110,000 viewers. Altogether between both airings, ROH drew a total of 301,000 viewers on Wednesday June 10. This is up from June 3, ROH’s first week on Destination America, where ROH drew a total of 273,000 viewers.
TNA Wrestling also obtained some good news when the television viewership reports came in on Thursday. The June 10 edition of TNA Impact Wrestling at 9 p.m. EST on Destination America drew 330,000 viewers. This is an increase from last week’s show (June 3), which drew 297,000 viewers.
The replay of Impact Wrestling at 12 a.m. drew 74,000 viewers, which was up from 72,000 last week for the replay. Overall, Impact Wrestling drew 402,000 viewers this week. Last week, the show drew 369,000 viewers between both airings.
What does this data mean for the future of both companies? For Ring of Honor, the news can only be spinned as a positive. The promotion is showing solid numbers, comparable to what TNA is bringing in for the network despite very little promotion.
At this point, it is too early to tell what the future holds for TNA on Destination America. Since a report originally came out several week’s back that Destination America is not planning on renewing their deal with TNA at the end of September, there has yet to be any information released that discredits that story. Destination America has yet to officially deny the report.
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the man who originally uncovered the Destination America memo that announced Impact Wrestling would not be renewed following 2015’s third quarter, has reported that the internal memo was dated before TNA made their recent move to Wednesday night. Meltzer has noted that it is possible that the decision to move TNA to Wednesday evenings could change the company’s future with the network.
From a business perspective, the viewership numbers being drawn by Ring of Honor has to be concerning for TNA. Ring of Honor costs Destination America very little to air as the show is entirely produced and funded by Sinclair Broadcasting, the principle owners of ROH. On the other hand, Destination America is helping fund the production of Impact Wrestling.
Looking at this week’s numbers, ROH drew 330,000 viewers to TNA’s 402,000 viewers. The shows are relatively close in viewership, so as September draws near, Destination America will have to decide whether the money they are spending on producing TNA is worth it moving forward. Clearly, ROH has shown they can draw comparable numbers to TNA while costing Destination America much less money to broadcast.
[Image via CageSideSeats.com]
