TNA’s marketing director, Dan Stevenson, noted in a recent Target Marketing interview that TNA has given priority to social networking over radio and television when it comes to marketing live events. This approach does run the risk of marketing more to an already existing dedicated fanbase rather than seeking out new potential customers. Others in TNA have expressed similar views about being able to use online streams in a few years rather than relying on television contracts, given the increase in broadband availability. It is harder now than in previous years to rely on TV exposure to create new fans but it is certainly still possible, as seen on Spike TV with UFC programming. Stevenson noted that the Twitter accounts for TNA, Dixie Carter and Jeremy Borash have 100,000 people following them, while their Facebook account has 134,000. A few years ago, however, when TNA did not have such accounts to utilise, Impact’s ratings and live attendance figures were still higher than they are now.

Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter, 7 June 2010 (subscribe here)

Tags: dan stevenson, facebook, impact, Spike TV, TNA, twitter