MMA Fighting reports the full numbers from Saturday’s UFC on Fox 6 card. The numbers which now include the west coast viewership have bumped up the average to 4.4 million viewers.
The ratings are similar to December’s UFC on Fox 5 show which received 4.4 million viewers and hit a high of 5.7 million during the main event. West coast viewers that saw the show at 5:00 p.m. were at 4,219,000 viewers and a 2.39 rating. The main event drew a high of 5.2 million viewers.
Via MMA Fighting:
UFC on FOX 6 show scored a 2.09 overall in the 18-49 demographic. No other network show that night topped a 1.0. Advertisers for UFC programming are usually aiming for males 18-49. The show, which sold out of all ad inventory, did a 3.01 in males 18-49 and 3.02 in males 18-34.
Payout Perspective:
Good news for the UFC as Saturday night’s event showed that the lower weight divisions can carry a card. The previous numbers have reflected a disparity between main events 155 and below versus the upper weight divisions. The conclusion that lower weight divisions don’t sell can now be challenged. We will see what happens this week with the Edgar-Aldo headliner. Its interesting that the UFC decided to utilize this as the main attraction to market on a card where Overeem and Rashad Evans are fighting.
“UFC on FOX 6 show scored a 2.09 overall in the 18-49 demographic”
“The show, which sold out of all ad inventory, did a 3.01 in males 18-49”
?? These look like different ratings for the same show in the same demo.
MV:
I double checked. I believe it may be 2.09 overall. 3.01 in males 18-49 and 3.02 in males 18-34.
I might just be confused as to how these demo ratings work: Is the “overall” for 18-49 year olds taking both men and women into account, while the 3.01 specifically refers to 18-49 year old MALES?
Yeah i believe the 2.09 is for everyone 18-49. Not just males.
“Good news for the UFC as Saturday night’s event showed that the lower weight divisions can carry a card. The previous numbers have reflected a disparity between main events 155 and below versus the upper weight divisions. The conclusion that lower weight divisions don’t sell can now be challenged.”
I dont quite understand this conclusion. There is no way that rampage was the main draw of the event. Just because the UFC puts all belts as the official main event doesn change who draws the fans. Lets look at this. Rampage is a well known product that has typically cost people on PPV. In his UFC career he headline vs Chuck and the event sold 675,000 buys, His fight with Hendo on Spike TV. 4.7 million viewers (5.93 million at its peak) tuned in. 540,000 buys vs Forrest, 1,000,000 buys at UFC 92 vs Silva, Another 1 million buy event verses Evans, and a couple 500,000 events vs Machida and Jones.
Rampage has fought in front of a tons of fans during his UFC career. He even has almost identical ratings on free Tv before. Johnson has headlined 2 free tv events and was co main event for a 3rd and none of those event were anything great. Drawing arounf the 1.1 million range. I dont see how anyone can look at that and think Johnson was responsible for the ratings.
Personally i was one again reminded why i hate the lower weight class. They simply dont have the power to do anything. The last time was watching Mike Easton fight on the Fox and FX cards. All the hype and they cant bust an egg. This time the guys were landing flush knees to the face one after another and big punch combos and it was like hitting an elephant with a fly swatter. What the hell is the point? They cant hurt anyone and then they get praise for having a close 5 round fight as if there was any other possible outcome. Well over 100 “significant” head strikes and couldnt hurt a fly. I think there should be a new rule for all divisions under 155. After the second round the corner gets to throw the fighters weapons. Hammers, brass knuckles, baseball bats, etc. Maybe someone cant actually end a fight.
BS wants the little guys to “Just Bleed”. I agree that lack of power hampers the draw of lighter weight classes (the same is true in boxing), but I wouldn’t go so far as to hate them. Dodson has a lot of finishes to his name (8 in 14 wins, 6 by KO/TKO). He just couldn’t finish Mighty Mouse. I think in this particular case it was Johnson’s fault. He was too tough and fit to get finished, and he himself is not a finisher.
And when you do get a small guy who can finish (Pacquiao, Maidana, Donaire, Aldo, Mathysse) then it’s a special thing indeed. Speed thrills, power kills and both together make for a great fight. Something that you miss when you watch two lumbering heavyweights lay on each other and tap out due to exhaustion.
Overall it was a good night for the UFC, in the cage and in the ratings.
But since Sampson hasn’t posted yet let me do it for him: boxing is more popular and Bellator will put them out of business.
Can you explain the west coast thing?
Only 500k from the whole west coast compared to 3.7 million from the east?
I don’t want them to just bleed. But I want a possibility of a finish. If there is t the. You saw all you need to see after 2 rounds and the rest of the fight just drags on. I feel the same way about any Decision Machine. I hated watch Karo Karisyan because you just knew it was going to decision. I don’t mind a decision but there has to be some expectation of a finish.
Good numbers for the UFC.
Enjoyed the whole card, but I also disagree with the conclusion that the lighter guys carried the card.
The main event to me was Cerrone vs. Pettis followed by Glover vs. Rampage. Main event was just a bonus.
Loving these stacked FOX cards. Keep up the good work UFC and FOX.
BS,
The biggest numbers of the night were for the title bout, not Glover/Rampage. If Jackson was the reason folks watched, the numbers would have gone down after his fight.
I dont think so. Do you think i turned it after the Rampage fight? Of course not. UFC shows always get stronger as they go on. Very few people are going to turn the channel with a free competitve title fight. But that doesnt change who the majority of the people tuned into see. Also i believe the local news came on after the UFC. Not sure about the west coast. But this is why the ratings jumped so much when the UFC ran over its time slot. After all what type of fan would wait and onyl watch the last fight on a card? It would be a stretch to even call them casual fans. How would casual fans even care about these guys? Like i said Johnson has got poor ratings every tim ehe was on tv. Dodson got poor ratings on his season of TUF. So i dont see how these guys can magically create 2 millions fans out fo thin air who have never watched them. That is hard to believe. But what isnt hard to believe is Rampage drew in the 3-4 million who has always watched him. From his two 1 million PPV events to his 4.7 million on Spike TV.
I agree with Brain. I don’t think this showed that the lighter weight classes can carry a card, but they did show that if you add a lighter weighclass title fight to a card with some big names people will stick around for the lighter weight fight.
That’s a step in the right direction for developing the lighter weighclasses, but a long way from them carrying the card.
I do think that Johnson’s lack of finishing hurts the weight class overall. A strong finisher with a strap around his waist draws more attention than a decision machine (GSP being an exception – though he is harshly criticized for his lack of finishes).
“But since Sampson hasn’t posted yet”…
Seems like someone realizes they made a stupid bet and is gracefully bowing out early 🙂
Sampson Simpson, we hardly knew ye. Bellator ratings average 705,000 nationwide. In all seriousness, I said from the beginning that if Bellator can average around 750,000 I’d consider it a success (and that SPIKE may well also). But Sampson is a man of his word. I know he’ll honor his bet.
Those are very good numbers and it was a great card–and free–sort of.
The UFC planners have been getting it right for the last few big Fox events. I consider the Fox cards to be investments in the future for the UFC–to solidify their relationship with Fox, to grow the sport of MMA in the US, to create new MMA stars, and to support their PPV business.
Although these numbers are good, it is my belief the viewer numbers will increase with each year as long as they keep stacking the cards.
I disagree with the conclusion that the flyweight title fight drew more viewers because the viewer ratings were highest while the title fight was on. The numbers only reflect the building nature of ratings for UFC fights. I know for my part, I probably would not have tuned in except for Pettis-Cerrone, Jackson-Texeira, Lamas-Koch fights.
I think the UFC is doing the right thing by promoting the lighter weight classes on free TV, and on strong cards. I think it takes time to build weight divisions. The LW division used to be fairly weak–but over time it has developed some major stars and is now a fairly stacked division.