TUF 17 Prelims on Fuel: 236,000 viewers
April 19, 2013
The Wrestling Observer reports that the Ultimate Fighter 17 Prelims on Fuel TV garnered an impressive 236,000 viewer average. The TUF 17 Prelims was the second most watched program in Fuel TV history.
In addition, the weigh-ins the day before scored 126,000 viewers which made it the third most watched weigh-ins in Fuel TV history.
Payout Perspective:
Good numbers for the Prelims as the Fuel TV portion featured mainly TUF 17 contestants. Last December, TUF 16 Prelims only garnered 96,000 viewers so either fans wanted to watch some fights or they knew of the quality of fighters this season. Once again, the surging Fuel ratings reflect the fact that the UFC will be an anchor for FS1.
UFC on Fuel TV 9: 236,000 viewers
April 9, 2013
MMA Fighting reports that UFC on Fuel TV 9 scored a ratings average of 236,000 viewers. It was the largest ever for a non-prime time broadcast on the network.
Via MMA Fighting:
What made this number impressive is the show aired starting at 2 p.m. on the East Coast and 11 a.m. on the West Coast. During those hours, Fuel was the highest rated ad-supported cable station in the Male 18-34 and Male 18-49 demographic, something unheard of for the station. In Males 18-49, it was the second-highest rated show in station history.
The East Coast rerun at 7pm scored 98,000 viewers while the West Coast prime time airing received 92,000 viewers. Based on the airings it was the second-most watched day in Fuel history.
Prior to Saturday’s airing, the highest rated non-prime time rating was the GSP-Diaz weigh-ins.
UFC on Fuel TV 8: 485,000 viewers, 219,000 replay
UFC on Fuel TV 7: 195,000 live, 116,000 replay
UFC on Fuel TV 6: 88,000 live, 143,000 replay
UFC on Fuel TV 5: 111,000 live, 140,000 replay
UFC on Fuel TV 4: 211,000
UFC on Fuel TV 3: 173,000 live
UFC on Fuel TV 2: 197,000 live
UFC on Fuel TV 1: 217,000, live
Payout Perspective:
The ratings are good considering the main event was changed last minute and an unknown was inserted into the top spot versus a relative unknown for UFC fans in Gegard Mousasi. Moreover, it improved on the 197,000 viewer average at UFC on Fuel TV 2 which featured Alexander Gustafsson. It was another six hour card for those watching online and then the Fuel show. The improved viewership are good indicators for the UFC’s move to FS1 later this year.
UFC on Fuel TV 9 attendance, gate and bonuses
April 7, 2013
MMA Junkie reports the attendance, gate and bonuses for this Saturday’s UFC on Fuel TV 9. Bonuses were $60,000 instead of the UFC standard $50,000.
Attendance at the Ericsson Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden were 14,506 for a live gate of $2,710,530. The first show in Sweden which featured Alexander Gustafsson was higher attended at 15,428. Unfortunately, Gustafsson had to pull out with a cut.
Bonuses were as follows:
FOTN: Brad Pickett vs. Mike Easton
KO: Conor McGregor
Submission of the Night: Reza Madadi
Payout Perspective:
Conor McGregor stole the show with his knockout of Marcus Brimage. Also, Diego Brandau could have won for Sub of the Night with a slick arm triangle of Pablo Garza. Fortunately, Gegard Mousasi was willing to fight Ilir Latifi on very short notice or the show would have been in dire straits. Its interesting that the bonuses were raised for this event. Maybe it was a way to motivate the fighters to give a good performance.
UFC on Fuel TV 8: 485,000 viewer average
March 5, 2013
Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports reports that UFC on Fuel TV 8 was the most watched UFC live event in the network’s history. Saturday night’s event from Japan scored twice the previous high of 485,000 viewers.
Also impressive was that the rerun received another 219,000 viewers. Wanderlei Silva versus Brian Stann was the main event for the show.
Via Dave Meltzer at MMA Fighting:
Both the pre-fight show (250,000 viewers) and post-fight show (219,000) became the second and third most-watched shows in station history. Even more impressive is the post-fight show didn’t start until 1 a.m.
UFC on Fuel TV 7: 195,000 live, 116,000 replay
UFC on Fuel TV 6: 88,000 live, 143,000 replay
UFC on Fuel TV 5: 111,000 live, 140,000 replay
UFC on Fuel TV 4: 211,000
UFC on Fuel TV 3: 173,000 live
UFC on Fuel TV 2: 197,000 live
UFC on Fuel TV 1: 217,000, live
Payout Perspective:
Outstanding numbers for a show that lacked big names and served as a ‘tweener show as the big event is in Montreal on March 16th. It was unlikely that Silva-Stann as the main event would draw such a high rating but it was a pleasant surprise.
UFC on Fuel TV 8′s attendance and bonuses
March 3, 2013
MMA Junkie reports the bonuses and attendance for UFC on Fuel TV 8. Mark Hunt and Wanderlei Silva were the big winners on Saturday.
Mark Hunt and Wanderlei Silva shared KO of the nights and for good reason with their highlight knockouts of Stefan Struve and Brian Stann respectively. Silva doubled up in bonuses as his upset of Stann earned the Fight of the Night. All bonuses were $50,000 each.
Attendance for Saturday’s event drew 14,682 and no live gate was announced. This is about the same to the unofficial 15,000 fans that attended last year’s UFC 144 (although there were rumors that it could have been up to 20,000 in attendance).
Payout Perspective:
Earlier in the week it was reported that over 10,000 tickets for a gate of $1.3M had been sold for the event at the Saitama Super Arena in Japan. With Wanderlei Silva on top of the card, is this a disappointment? Silva recaptured his past with an impressive KO of Brian Stann.
UFC on Fuel TV 7: 195K viewer average
February 20, 2013
MMA Fighting reports that UFC on Fuel TV 7 received a ratings average of 195,000 viewers for the live broadcast this past Saturday afternoon. The prime time replay of the show on Fuel garnered 116,000 viewers.
Below are numbers from the UFC on Fuel events held outside of North America with the live events not in prime time.
UFC on Fuel TV 6: 88,000 live, 143,000 replay
UFC on Fuel TV 5: 111,000 live, 140,000 replay
UFC on Fuel TV 2: 197,000 live
Payout Perspective:
As you can see, this past Saturday’s event fared well considering the history of low numbers for non-prime time events. However, it did not have a strong replay viewership. Still, the card lasted over 6 hours if you watched the 3 hour Prelims on Facebook or YouTube. This is due, in part, to the number of fights that went to decision.
UFC on Fuel TV 7 attendance, gate and numbers
February 16, 2013
MMA Fighting reports the attendance, gate and bonuses for this afternoon’s UFC on Fuel TV 7. The event, held at the Wembley Arena in London, England, drew 10,349 with a gate of $1.3 million.
The capacity of Wembley Arena is 12,500 although we do not know if the configuration of the arena had it at 12,500 for the event.
Bonuses for this afternoon were awarded with each receiving $50,000.
Fight of the Night: Tom Watson-Stanislav Nedkov
Submission of the Night: Renan Barao
KO of the Night: Watson
Payout Perspective:
A Saturday afternoon of fights which picked up with Swanson-Poirer and Barao-McDonald. James Ta Huna should receive some award for originality of entrance. Watson doubled up in bonuses in his fight with Nedkov. Barao executed a perfect head and arm triangle choke to tap McDonald. Although the event drew under capacity, the attendance reflects the appeal the UFC has in other countries.
UFC on FX 7: 1,857,000 viewer average
January 23, 2013
MMA Fighting reports that UFC on FX 7 earned a record 1,857,000 million viewer average on Saturday night. Additionally, the prelims on Fuel TV received a record 255,000 viewer average.
The 1.857 million average on FX was the highest average for a live MMA broadcast on the FX network.
Via MMA Fighting:
In the key demos, Saturday’s show did a 1.71 in Males 18-34 and 1.86 in Males 18-49….Also, for the first time in the history of FX, it won the entire night in Males 18-34, Males 18-49 and total viewers 18-49, beating not only every cable station but also the major networks. The FX broadcast did a 1.23 in persons 18-49, the most desired demographic by advertisers, which even beat two of the UFC on FOX shows last year. In comparison on Saturday night, FOX did a 0.9, CBS and ABC both did 0.8′s and NBC did a 0.5 in the same demo.
Payout Perspective:
Whether it was the Belfort-Bisping matchup and Michael Bisping’s quest to earn a shot at Anderson Silva, or whether it was the lack of competition on Saturday night, Saturday’s fights were a ratings success. HBO did run a boxing card Saturday night but it was card for only the hardcore boxing fans. I am pleasantly surprised with the ratings considering the lack of known fighters on the card. For whatever reason, overseas cards do not do too well. But, Saturday bucked a trend.
Fuel TV to become Fox Sports 2
January 22, 2013
The Sports Business Journal* reports that Fox is restructuring its channels as it plans to unveil two new sports networks later in 2013. In addition, FX will no longer carry sports programming.
The news of a Fox Sports 1 was known for a while but it was not until Fox filed a trademark application for Fox Sports 2 this past November that a second network would be planned. Fuel TV will be repackaged into the second Fox network while the Speed Channel will land on Fox Sports 1.
Similar to ESPN and ESPN2, the Fox Sports channels will share content with the larger events occurring on Fox Sports 1. In comparison, the Speed Channel is distributed to 81 million homes while Fuel TV is available in 37 million homes.
The decision to include a second channel is based on the realization that it had acquired enough content for two channels. Soccer and Fox’s FIFA World Cup rights in 2018 and 2022 seem to be the main driver.
*SBJ requires a subscription
Payout Perspective:
For all of the praises of sustained positive ratings for Fuel TV, the article points to the inability to grow Fuel as a reason to repackage the network. In 2012, Fuel TV and Fox Soccer were two of the three lowest rated Nielsen-rated cable networks in prime time. Its Fox’s hope that converting Fuel to a network with broader programming will help drive distribution.
We will see what this means for the UFC. It recently switch airing its televised prelims to FX from Fuel TV. It appears that the restructuring will mean that prelims would land on one of the two new Fox Sports networks. There has been no word on whether TUF would move to the Fox Sports network or remain on FX as it can be categorized as reality television.
The restructure could help the UFC in the long run but may hurt them in the short term. Eliminating FX from the mix of networks to show the UFC hurts its opportunity to showcase its product to a broader audience. Elimination of UFC Prelims and other live events (i.e., UFC on FX) would hurt its chances of appealing to a broader audience that may eventually purchase its PPVs. But, if the new Fox Sports networks are a success and can grow in distribution, the UFC can be an anchor in providing content for Fox.
UFC Primetime for Rousey-Carmouche
January 6, 2013
MMA Junkie reports that the next UFC Primetime series will feature Ronda Rousey and Liz Carmouche in leadup to UFC 157. The three part series will commence February 8th on Fuel TV.
Via MMA Junkie:
Following the Friday-night debuts (which also include Feb. 15 and Feb. 22), FX reairs “UFC Primetime: Rousey vs. Carmouche” the following Saturdays at 11 a.m. ET/PT and Sunday at 2 a.m. ET/PT.
Payout Perspective:
This move should not be surprising considering the amount of press Rousey has received upon entering the UFC. I will be interested to see how the UFC will address the various storylines out of this series. Call me old fashioned, but the backstory on why each chose to fight would be interesting. While Rousey’s backstory has been told and retold, most have not heard of Carmouche. We will also see how the UFC addresses Carmouche’s sexual orientation in the series. Will it be glossed over or will the UFC dedicate some time to it
With the news that ticket sales have been sluggish, any promotion for UFC 157 is needed.
