By James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor

TNA Impact Wrestling on Thursday, March 22 scored a 1.09 rating, up from a 1.03 rating the past two weeks. Impact was at the yearly average of a 1.10, which is down from the 2011 average of a 1.17 rating.

Impact averaged 1.49 million viewers, up from an average of 1.45 million viewers last week. TNA is continuing to try to creep back to the 1.50-1.70 million viewers range from January and February before viewership nose-dived at the beginning of March.

Impact did show decreases in key male demographics, though. Impact scored a 0.90 rating among males 18-49, down from a 1.00 rating last week. The 1.00 rating was tied for the second-highest of the year. Impact also decreased slightly among males 18-34.

In other demos, Impact was down slightly in adults 18-49 and males 12-34. The only trackable demo to show an increase was males 12-17, which increased slightly to a four-week high.

On cable TV Thursday night, Impact #30 in overall viewers and #10 among males 18-34 & males 18-49.

-- Looking at the month of March compared to the past four regular years (excluding the March 2010 Monday night experiment), it's easily the lowest-rated March since 2008.

March 2008 - avg. 1.12 rating
March 2009 - avg. 1.26 rating
March 2011 - avg. 1.27 rating
March 2012 - avg. 1.05 rating

Caldwell's Analysis: TV viewership for both WWE and TNA has taken a hit in March. WWE's drop-off has been more pronounced with it being WrestleMania Season and WWE bringing in top stars, but Impact has lost the momentum they had at the start of the year with newer stars being spotlighted. The last two weeks haven't helped matters going up against the NCAA Tournament, but TNA was having issues before the tourney.

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