We finally have the answer to a question we have been asking
since TMZ broke the story back in July. After nearly 4 months of MAJOR
speculation on the sheets of dirt, banter between Spike officials and a former
writer, and the internet community debating as to where (or even if there will
be a) TNA will be in 2015. Destination America and Impact have reached a
multi-year agreement to take the brand to the Discovery Communications family.
Some have rejoiced simply because there was a TV deal announced while others speculate
that this will be that FINAL thing that will end TNA, but I am going to look at
what this move could mean for Impact in the future.
One of the primary issues I hear
being thrown about is that Impact will have to reduce overhead so much that
Impact will no longer be recognizable to fans. From what I best understand –
which to note, I am in NO WAY in the television industry so the way I view this
could be entirely false - commercial television programs are paid by
advertisers for a section of time during breaks. In the case of Impact, if we
are to say 10 minutes out of each hour is dedicated to commercials, then they
currently have 20 minutes of ad time to fill by moving to the network.
A primary piece of the announcement
is being missed by many of the fans –
“The
series features some of the biggest names in professional wrestling, including
Jeff Hardy, Bobby Roode, Kurt Angle, Bobby Lashley and Gail Kim. The
partnership includes the U.S. premieres of additional TNA WRESTLING series and
specials and provides Discovery Communications with international broadcasting
rights in select regions, to be announced at a later date.”
The final portion of the opening
paragraph from the press release states that they are including additional TNA
WRESTLING series and specials. While this could simply be an extra 30 minutes
of programming weekly, the ad revenue from that time slot must also be included
in what TNA will be gaining from this partnership.
If we assume that the smaller
network means that Impact is getting a smaller rate (for sake of argument,
we’ll say $0.50 on the dollar), they would be making less than what they were
on Spike. However, if Destination America provides them with another hour of
content per week, that number is not as substantial as many are making it out
to be. If granted 2 hours, in a vacuum these numbers are equal. Again, we know
VERY little of the financials for this since Impact is a private company, but
my point is that we should slow down a bit on thinking that they won’t be able
to afford keeping more than 10 wrestlers on payroll.
The other primary issue I hear
concern with is that it will be in less than 50% of the households while on
Spike. According to TV by the Numbers, Spike is in 97 million homes (85% of the
US respectively). Destination America is in 59 million homes (52%). It is a
loss in the reach of homes, certainly. However, things become a little
convoluted when you consider the regression against growth argument.
Spike has lost about 1 million
households from 2013 to 2014 and has seemed to have calmed from an expansion
standpoint. Since rebranding from Planet Green, Destination America added 25k
primetime viewers in 2013. Not much of an increase, but consider that they have
added onto that by seeing double digit growth in what are considered the key
demographics from 2013 to 2014. From a year to date stand, Destination America
is in the top 5 fastest growing networks and that trend should continue with
the addition of Impact.
If we take the base rate of 900k
viewers per week – which I find a fair representation in the US - and use the
same format of a 40% reduction, we see that 540k viewers will follow Impact to
Destination America… Personally, I think this number will be higher than the
assumed math entails simply because I have seen Impact fans follow them
regardless. I would attempt to breakdown the rating comparison of viewer’s
right here, but apparently the only people who care about these numbers are
network officials and Internet fans who look too deep into these things.
Seriously, I cannot find ratings for BBQ Pit Masters or A Haunting anywhere. Go
figure.
At the end of the day, these are a
moot point for us, the fans of the television product that Impact provides.
They may affect the decisions of management moving forward, but we shouldn’t
see the massive setbacks that many have claimed across the interwebs. A lot has
been made mention about TNA rebranding the product with a new look and feel to
the show before they launch on Destination America and I think that is where we
should be focusing our discussion on these topics. If you want to find out if
you can follow Impact, simply go [HERE] or a quick Wikipedia search will
give you an idea of what channel they are on. I personally will be following
because I love Impact AND Destination America in on channel 465 on my AT&T
Uverse. The biggest reason to follow is that TNA has laid some tremendous
ground work for their characters moving forward, but these are just my
opinions; how about you the reader?
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