By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

Last Thursday's episode of TNA Impact on July 1 scored a 0.99 rating off a first hour 0.93 rating and second hour 1.05 rating.

The quarter-hour ratings indicate steady growth from the first hour to the second hour. The highest quarter-hour rating during the show was a 1.09 rating in Q6. It followed a 0.98 rating in Q5.

The lowest quarter-hour rating was a 0.90 in Q2 following the opening segment of the show. Q4 also scored a 0.90 rating.

The below-average quarter-hour ratings in the first hour dragged down the overall show rating to off-set the strong ratings in the second hour. The result was keeping TNA at the same level of a 0.98-0.99 overall rating over the last four weeks.

First hour

Impact opened right at the show's overall average with a 0.98 quarter-hour rating. The segment featured Abyss and Hulk Hogan's confrontation, with a Jeff Hardy run-in, a commercial, then Hogan and Eric Bischoff talking backstage.

Impact then dropped to a show-low 0.90 rating in Q2 for Motor City Machineguns vs. Ink, Inc. and Dixie Carter walking backstage.

The second quarter-hour typically draws one of the lowest quarter-hour ratings each week, unless TNA inserts the Beautiful People in Q2, which was the case last week.

TNA then gave away Samoa Joe vs. A.J. Styles on free TV with little pre-match hype in Q3, which resulted in a slight increase to a 0.93 quarter-hour rating.

Impact hit another show-low in Q4 with a 0.90 quarter-hour rating for Bischoff, Hogan, and Carter sitting around a table talking about what to do with Sting, then Brian Kendrick vs. Desmond Wolfe.

Second Hour

The second hour started just like the first hour with a 0.98 quarter-hour rating in Q5. The increase from a 0.90 in Q4 began a steady climb for Impact's ratings in the second hour.

The fifth quarter-hour featured The Pope's Impact return and his mid-ring promo exchange with Kurt Angle.

From there, Impact shot up to a 1.09 rating in Q6. It was good for the highest quarter-hour rating of the show. The 15-minute window included Matt Morgan vs. Jay Lethal and the beginning of a Knockouts match with Madison Rayne vs. Taylor Wilde.

After hitting the highest quarter-hour rating of the show in Q6, Impact retained most of the audience in Q7. The segment scored a 1.05 rating and featured the end of the Knockouts match and Dixie Carter's confrontation with Sting.

The final quarter-hour grew to a 1.08 rating, which was just short of Q6. The segment featured the TV main event of Abyss vs. Jeff Hardy with TNA World Hvt. champion Rob Van Dam as special referee.

Overall, the strength of the show was the final three quarter-hours. It was a good sign compared to TNA's pattern since returning to Thursday nights where the audience has frequently tuned out at the end of the show.

The final three quarter-hours were the only segments above the show's overall 0.99 rating. The segments break down:

Q6 - 1.09 rating
Q7 - 1.05 rating
Q8 - 1.08 rating

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