TNA Impact ratings continue to improve for March 22 show

Last week, TNA's ratings had a significant increase for their semi-live show that saw a surprise TNA title change. The question follow was could they keep that audience for their string of upcoming pre-taped shows. The short term answer at least is yes.

According to ShowbuzzDaily, Impact's first run had a decent increase in viewers last night, moving up from 306,000 viewers to 331,000 viewers, which ticked the rating from 0.09 to 0.1. (The replay later on in the night; however, had decreased back to its normal number following a doubling last week.)

Gaining viewers for their first run airing is impressive given the fact this show was pre-taped so spoilers were already out there. Despite being a very good show last night, there weren't the type of major happenings that would come off as "must see" reading spoilers, suggesting that interest is still there following that Drew Galloway's title win. The buzz surrounding TNA originals Eric Young and Bobby Roode departing may have contributed a bit since people may want to see how the shows deal with their upcoming departures. However, that likely won't be addressed for weeks.

It should be noted that Impact's home PopTV was added to U-Verse about a month ago, and obviously more cable packages carrying the network will help ratings. However, the TNA ratings still meandered for two weeks after Pop was added to U-Verse and didn't go up until the live show last week.

We'll keep an eye out to see if Impact continues to sustain viewership in the weeks going forward.