MMA Payout has learned via email from SpikeTV that UFC 120: Bisping vs. Akiyama delivered a 1.3 hh rating – a 1.8 in M18-49, a 2.24 in M18-34, and had an average audience of 1.9 million viewers. The card, tape-delayed on SpikeTV earned about 2.5 million viewers at its peak
The quarter hours for the 3 hour card are as follows:
Qtr hours/ viewers
8-11pm
1514,000
1543,000
1801,000
1909,000
1759,000
1910,000
1745,000
1756,000
2335,000
2018,000
2471,000
2463,000
Payout Perspective:
As reported by multiple outlets including MMA Junkie, the numbers indicate that there were 1 million less viewers for a similar event — UFC 105 in November 2009. It was the last time the UFC held an event that was overseas (in Manchester) and tape-delayed. UFC 105 saw Randy Couture defeat Brandon Vera in the main event. The numbers for UFC 105 drew 2.9 million viewers and saw a peak viewership of 3.9 million. It may not be fair to compare the two cards since 105 was headlined by Couture/Vera (and had Hardy and Bisping fighting on the undercard) and 120 had Bisping/Akiyama (and Hardy was KO’d)
Much has been debated regarding ESPN’s reporting of the results during college football and prior to Spike TV’s telecast. Whether or not it hurt ratings would be hard to determine. Many MMA web sites attempted to keep results concealed to those that visited its main page but offered “spoilers” if you inquired within the site. Twitter seemed to be abiding by this code as well until Carlos Condit knocked out Dan Hardy and that’s when I noticed more tweeting of that particular result. I doubt think this result would have stopped someone from watching the card.
I posted a comment in the previous article – Brian mentioned that the UFC should relax some of their broadcasting requirements to remove the total control they put on their product. I agree with his point as long as they don’t give total control (ala Strikeforce).
UFC needs to take the next step and get on one of the big four (CBS, ABC, NBC or FOX) or on ESPN. Their market without a doubt has saturated on SPIKE. Regardless if the numbers drop a bit or go up a bit, they have hit the proverbial wall with respect to any potential growth on SPIKE.
Anyway, I enjoyed the event. Found it to be one of the better cards top to bottom this year on SPIKE and for the UFC. Every fight was compelling enough to keep watching and Hardy being silenced was golden and opens up another can of worms on just how GSP is as he couldn’t finish him. Wondering if after this weekend Jake wins and gets the title shot, can he finish GSP. If he does, where does this put the rest of the division?
I agree with guru that we seem to have hit a wall, and I would extend that to the WEC on VS and TUF shows as well. Ratings seem to go up and down around a certain average. When looking event by event it’s easy to get overly pessimistic or overly excited, but the average seems to be holding steady (I’m sure a #s cruncher at MMAPayout can verify or disprove this).
I’m not sure how to move that average up, but I would guess it involves targeting other demographics than the usual Spike audience. 18-34 yr olds may be the most lucrative audience, but there are probably growth opportunities in other age brackets as well.