UFC on FUEL TV 2: 197,000 viewers
April 18, 2012
MMA Junkie reports that UFC on Fuel TV 2 drew an average of 197,000 viewers this past Saturday. The numbers are down from the 218,000 viewers received from the initial live Fuel show.
Despite the drop in ratings, one must point out that UFC on Fuel 1 took place in primetime stateside and featured Diego Sanchez versus Jake Ellenberger. On the other hand, due to the time difference, UFC on Fuel TV 2 took place Saturday afternoon which could have detracted from viewership. Additionally, Gustafsson-Silva is not the most appealing or name recognized main event out there.
Payout Perspective:
Although we saw a drop, FUEL reports that the show had the largest viewership in FUEL TV history for the target demo of males 18-49. Also, the main event saw a peak of 298,000 viewers. Overall, I believe that the UFC is trying to put a positive spin on the ratings. The timeslot and the fact that many still do not receive FUEL were likely reasons from the decrease from UFC on Fuel 1 to Fuel 2.
Bellator 65: 163,000 viewers
April 17, 2012
MMA Junkie reports that Bellator 65 ratings grabbed 163,000 viewers on MTV2. This week’s average is less than 64 but above the season’s average.
Bellator 64: 175,00 viewers
Bellator 63: 140,000 viewers
Bellator 62: 175,000 viewers
Bellator 61: 108,000 viewers
Bellator 60: 169,000 viewers
Payout Perspective:
Although down from the week prior, the hope is that the numbers remain consistent and boost the season’s average. The fluctuating ratings are a concern so hopefully we see a positive trend here. As MMA Junkie points out, none of the sixth season ratings have matched the averages of the first three seasons the organization has had on MTV2.
TUF Live Episode 5: 1 million viewers
April 17, 2012
TUF Live Episode 6 garnered a 1 million viewer average as reported by MMA Junkie. The number is slightly better than episode 5’s 947,000 viewer average – an all-time low for the TUF series.
TUF Live Episode 1: 1.28 million viewers
TUF Live Episode 2: 1.1 million viewers
TUF Live Episode 3: 1.2 million viewers
TUF Live Episode 4: 947,000 viewers
Payout Perspective:
Slightly better than the all-time low for the series. As we’ve discussed throughout reporting these figures, there are many factors to attribute the lower ratings. But, we may need to just recalibrate our expectations of the series.
WWE reports WM 28 buys: 1.3 million
April 16, 2012
The WWE is reporting that the preliminary PPV buy rate for Wrestlemania 28 is 1.3 million buys worldwide. It also is reporting that global gross sales exceeded $67 million including the live event.
If I am reading the WWE’s release correctly, the gross sales includes the live gate which was originally reported as $8.9 million. The buy rate broke the 2007 WM which was 1.25 million buys according to F4WOnline. That Wrestlemania featured Donald Trump in a cameo role.
Broken down, the 1.3 million buys means about 700K domestic and 600K international.
Payout Perspective:
Is 1.3 million buys a disappointment? While there was an ESPN reporter that tweeted that the buy rate was closer to 2 million buys, we now know that was more speculation than reporting. The fact that the Rock was involved in the main event in his hometown and there was a year long run-up to this event makes 1.3 million somewhat of a disappointment. We shall see what this means for the WWE’s stock for the rest of this year. Last year, the company rode the financial wave of WM 27 so this could be a good sign for the company in its next earnings call.
Bellator 64: 175,000 viewers
April 10, 2012
MMA Junkie reports Bellator 64 scored an average of 175,000 viewers last Friday night. The viewership was tied for the current season’s best rating.
This week featured one of Bellator’s most well-known fighters, welterweight Ben Askren defending his title. The rating was a 25 percent increase over last week’s performance.
Bellator 63: 140,000 viewers
Bellator 62: 175,000 viewers
Bellator 61: 108,000 viewers
Bellator 60: 169,000 viewers
Payout Perspective:
And here we go again with Bellator’s fluctuating ratings. Should we think that the numbers are a sign of improvement considering the poor showing by TUF Live and UFC Primetime? It’s too early to consider whether Bellator has gained ground on Friday nights. One would have to believe that Bellator would have to have consistent ratings (which it has not) for them to think that its gaining traction on fans. Askren is outspoken and should be one of the faces of Bellator that can help the promotion as it grows.
TUF Live Ep. 5: 947,000 viewers
April 9, 2012
It was not a good Friday for TUF Live last Friday as the series scored its lowest ratings ever with 947,000 viewers. Its the first time the series has dipped below a million average.
It was not a good night for the rest of the UFC programming either as the first episode of UFC Primetime: Jones vs. Evans began after TUF Live. It only garnered 462,000 viewers. As a comparison, Spike TV’s reruns of UFC content received an average of 408,000 viewers.
TUF Live Episode 1: 1.28 million viewers
TUF Live Episode 2: 1.1 million viewers
TUF Live Episode 3: 1.2 million viewers
TUF Live Episode 4: 947,000 viewers
(h/t: MMA Junkie)
Payout Perspective:
Dismal ratings all around for the UFC. Do we attribute the poor ratings on the network change, the change to Friday nights, the content changes or all of the above. Certainly, some viewers may DVR TUF Live and UFC Primetime although the show overruns make recording the west coast reruns impossible unless you record the whole night on FX. As we reported last week, the UFC is still where it wants to be on FX based on the demos and overall performance of the network. But, just like a young team that shows promise, there will be lots of growing pains.
Payout Perspective: UFC-FOX TV Deal Q1/2012 Performance Review
April 5, 2012
Last year, UFC and FOX announced a huge 7 year TV deal worth as much as $90-$100 million per year, which would move UFC programming from Spike TV to FOX, FX, FSN’s, and Fuel TV. Now that Q1 of 2012 has passed, we look back and analyze what type of impact UFC programming had on the FOX properties and how the new platforms have impacted the UFC.
NETWORK: FOX (112M households) Q1 Ratings:
UFC on FOX:
- UFC on FOX 1: Velasquez vs Dos Santos: 5.7M, 3.1 household rating (1 Hour Block, 1 Fight)
- UFC on FOX 2: Evans vs Davis: 4.7M, 2.6 household rating (2.5 Hour Block, 3 Fights)
Q1 Average: 5.2M … Trend: Down
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NETWORK: FX (99M households) Q1 RATINGS:
TUF LIVE:
- TUF Live Episode 1 – 1.3M
- TUF Live Episode 2 – 1.1M
- TUF Live Episode 3 – 1.2M
- TUF Live Episode 4 – 1.054M
Q1 Average: 1.16M Viewers, Trend: Down
TUF Season Average Rating (last 5 seasons) on Spike TV:
- TUF 14 Season on Spike TV (2011) Averaged 1.5M viewers
- TUF 13 Season on Spike TV (2011) Averaged 1.3M viewers
- TUF 12 Season on Spike TV (2010) Averaged 1.74M viewers
- TUF 11 Season on Spike TV (2010) Averaged 1.65M viewers
- TUF 10 Season on Spike TV (2009) Averaged 3M viewers
TUF Season Average (last 5 seasons) on Spike TV: 1.84M Viewers
Spike TV Comparable Trend: Down
UFC on FX:
- UFC on FX 1: 1.3M
- UFC on FX 2: 1.4M
Q1 Average: 1.35M Viewers, Trend: Up, Flat
UFN Average Rating (last 5 events) on Spike TV:
- UFN 25 on Spike TV (2011) Averaged 1.8M viewers
- UFN 24 on Spike TV (2011) Averaged 2.2M viewers
- UFN 23 on Spike TV (2011) Averaged 1.85M viewers
- UFN 22 on Spike TV (2010) Averaged 1.2M viewers
- UFN 21 on Spike TV (2010) Averaged 1.6M viewers
UFN Average (last 5 events) on Spike TV: 1.73M Viewers
Spike TV Comparable Trend: Down
UFC Primetime:
- “UFC Primetime: Diaz vs. Condit” (Episode 1): 657,000 viewers
- “UFC Primetime: Diaz vs. Condit” (Episode 2): 520,000 viewers
- “UFC Primetime: Diaz vs. Condit” (Episode 3): 442,000 viewers
Q1 Average: 540,000 Viewers, Trend: Down
UFC Primetime Debut Episode Ratings (last 5 events) on Spike TV:
- UFC Primetime: GSP vs Shields on Spike TV (2011): 610K viewers
- UFC Primetime: Lesnar vs Velasquez on Spike TV (2010): 974K viewers
- UFC Primetime: Rampage vs Evans on Spike TV (2011): 1.2M viewers
- UFC Primetime: GSP vs Hardy on Spike TV (2010): 1M viewers
- UFC Primetime: GSP vs Penn II on Spike TV (2009): 880K viewers
UFC Primetime Debut Episodes (last 5) Average on Spike TV: 933K Viewers
Spike TV Comparable Trend: Down, Flat
UFC on FX Prelims:
- UFC 142 Prelims: 880K
- UFC 143 Prelims: 1.4M
- UFC 144 Prelims: 1.5M
Q1 Average: 1.26M, Trend: Up
UFC Prelims Average Rating (last 5 events) on Spike TV:
- UFC 141 Season on Spike TV (2011) Averaged 1.8M viewers
- UFC 139 Season on Spike TV (2011) Averaged 1.2M viewers
- UFC 137 Season on Spike TV (2011) Averaged 1.1M viewers
- UFC 136 Season on Spike TV (2011) Averaged 1M viewers
- UFC 135 Season on Spike TV (2011) Averaged 1.6M viewers
Previous 5 UFC Prelims Average on Spike TV: 1.34M Viewers
Spike TV Comparable Trend: Flat
FX & SpikeTV: 2012 (Q1) Primetime Vs. 2011 (Q1) Primetime :
FX
- Men 18-49= -20%
- Men 18-34= -21%
Trend: Down
Spike
- Men 18-49 = +4%
- Men 18-34= +7%
Trend: Up
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NETWORK: FUEL TV (36M Households) Q1 RATINGS:
UFC on FUEL:
- UFC on Fuel TV 1: 217,000
UFC on Fuel Prelims:
- UFC on FX1 Fuel Prelims: 148,000
- UFC on FOX 2 Prelims: 144,000
- UFC on FX 2 Fuel Prelims: 113,000
Q1 Average: 135,000, Trend: Down
UFC Tonight:
- UFC Tonight Episode 1: 39,000
- UFC Tonight Episode 2: 20,000
- UFC Tonight Episode 3: 61,000
- …
Q1 Average: 63,000, Trend: Up
Overall Q1 Ratings Analysis (Fuel TV PR):
- Fuel TV is television’s fastest-growing cable network this year, according to figures released by Nielsen Media Research. In both the Total Day and Prime Time, the network recorded the largest percentage increases of total viewers among all rated, ad-supported cable networks in the first quarter of 2012.
- Fuel TV continued its unprecedented ratings increases in March, following the growth trend that began in January when Ultimate Fighting Championship® programming began to dominate key day-parts. February was the network’s most-watched month ever, featuring its first live UFC fight, which delivered the channel its most-watched program, most-watched Prime Time and most-watched week.
- Fuel TV aired 233 hours of UFC programming in February and added another 213 hours in March. FUEL TV telecast 646 hours of UFC programming in the first three months of 2012.
- Q1 2012 was FUEL TV’s most-watched in network history, finishing up +100% in Total Viewers and up +125% in M18-49 vs. Q1 2011
- Q1 Prime Time viewership increased +200% in Total Viewers and +260% among M18-49 vs. the same quarter last year
- Q1 Late Night increased +222% on Total Viewers and +275% among M18-49 compared to Q1 in 2011.
Payout Perspective:
Making a conclusion as to whether the UFC and FOX TV deal is a success or failure based on only the Q1 ratings would obviously be premature, but it also doesn’t mean we can’t start to look at the performance of UFC content on the FOX platforms.
The obvious observations here after Q1 has to be how much UFC has helped out Fuel TV, not only in terms of ratings, but also increasing their reach from 30M to 36M since the TV announcement was made back in 2011. However, Fuel TV at the end of the day only reaches 1/3 of the households that Spike TV reached while still being one of the lowest rated networks in cable TV, so unless Fuel’s reach picks up – doesn’t look like that will be the case until the end of the year at the earliest – the UFC will consistently be placing the majority of their content on a channel that only reaches a fraction of what Spike TV gets.
FOX is doing a great job at exposing the UFC product to the masses, but the last event was actually a big drop-off from the first event as every fight went to a decision and almost tripled the length of UFC on FOX 1. Not to mention that four shows a year is just not enough frequency for the casuals. Getting mainstream sponsors for the FOX events has also not been as easy as was expected when the deal was made last year. The ratings drop of the second show caused for the UFC to create “fun and exciting” match-ups for UFC on FOX 3 rather than book big names in hope that casuals will tune in and stick around for “fan-friendly” and exciting booked fights.
FX and the newly revamped “TUF Live” were a big part of the TV deal with TUF being the key platform the UFC uses to create future stars and PPV draws. So far, the show has been a disappointment (in terms of ratings) with all-time rating lows for the series. Dana White and the UFC brass predicted that they could very well reach 3 million viewers for TUF on FX if they were getting around 1.5 million on Spike TV without any promotion. Well, that prediction hasn’t panned out yet, even with heavy promotion leading up the the debut on FX. More shocking is that after UFC moved to FX, FX network’s M18-34 and M18-49 demos have decreased compared to Q1 2011 while Spike’s have gone up. FX dedicating Friday nights as “UFC Nights”, a day which is notorious for bad ratings and when the M18-34 demographic is not at home in front of their TV sets, has also not panned out for the UFC yet. Moving the content to mid-week could be a solution, but FX is happy enough with the Friday night ratings since it’s an improvement from what they get with non-UFC content, so it looks like the UFC will have to ride this out for the time being.
There is something to be said about the simplicity of being a UFC fan and being able to find all the content you needed on one network. Now, with multiple platforms designated with different UFC content, fans are having a difficult time migrating from Spike TV (who will continue to air UFC content through 2012) to multiple FOX platforms. FOX only shows UFC events 4 times a year, FX only on Fridays and sometimes on Saturday, while Fuel TV has designated days where they show no UFC content at all despite airing over 200+ hours of UFC programming a month . The complexity for the typical MMA TV viewer has definitely increased since the deal, but regardless of the vast TV programming now available, MMA fans can always count on tuning in on Saturday nights – usually once a month – to catch a big PPV event. That is a consistent and simple message the UFC has promoted for years and one that still works. It gets hundreds-of-thousands of UFC fans pumped up for a UFC weekend. Sometimes, simplicity can be bliss.
Bellator 63: 140,000 viewers
April 3, 2012
MMA Junkie reports that Bellator 63 drew an average viewership of 140,000 viewers last Friday on MTV2. The ratings are down from last week’s 175,000 viewer showing and the season average of 151,000.
Bellator 63 brings down season 6’s average to 148,000 viewers.
Bellator 62: 175,000 viewers
Bellator 61: 108,000 viewers
Bellator 60: 169,000 viewers
Payout Perspective:
And the roller coaster ride for Bellator ratings continues. After a strong showing for Bellator 62, this past Friday’s showing declined by 35,000 viewers. Bellator ratings are truly hard to decipher considering last Friday it had to compete with March Madness and this week without NCAA basketball, viewership declined. In addition, TUF Live ratings were down as well this week.
TUF Live Episode 4: 1.1 million
April 2, 2012
MMA Junkie reports The Ultimate Fighter Live received an average of 1.1 million viewers this past Friday. Despite the lack of March Madness competition, it was the lowest rating of the season.
TUF Live Episode 1: 1.28 million viewers
TUF Live Episode 2: 1.1 million viewers
TUF Live Episode 3: 1.2 million viewers
Payout Perspective:
It may take some time for the UFC audience to gravitate to FX but, this NY Times article shows the reasons why the UFC’s key demo should help FX and vice versa. The article keys in on FX as a revenue generator for Fox as it focuses on the young adult male demo. Mainly, it cites its original programming geared toward young males. According to the article, FX was the 10th most watched basic cable channel and 8th most-watched in the 18-49 category in the first quarter of 2012. This should help the UFC in the long run.
Minus Spike’s use of the UFC library next year and insert Bellator into that slot, the UFC should build on its share of the MMA fans on Friday nights. Keeping the TUF Live product fresh is another issue which the UFC-FX is trying to do.
Bellator 62: 175,000 viewers
March 27, 2012
MMA Junkie reports that Bellator 62 ratings were up this past Friday and received an average of 175,000 viewers. The ratings are up 61 percent from last week’s dismal showing and the live streaming prelims increased in viewership as well.
Via MMA Junkie:
Bellator 62, which got the organization back in the normal range for ratings, took place at Laredo Energy Arena in Laredo, Texas. In addition to the MTV2-televised main card, prelims streamed live on Spike.com. Although officials don’t reveal the total number of viewers, Bellator 62′s streaming audience more than doubled (up 110 percent) compared to the previous week.
Bellator 60 – 169,000 viewers
Bellator 61 – 108,000
Bellator 62 – 175,000
Payout Perspective:
The viewership came back to a normal range Friday night notwithstanding March Madness which is a good thing for Bellator. Also, 62 exceeded the debut of season 6 which is a good sign as well. The numbers are still down from the season 5 average but the bounce back in ratings is a positive. The live streaming on Spike.com also did well which reflects the fact that fans are getting used to turning to Spike.com to watch Bellator.
