Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer sheds some more light on the Strikeforce on CBS ratings of last weekend:
The show did a 2.3 in the target Males 18-34 demo that the network took the chance with MMA largely to reach. Usually in that time slot they do a 0.9. They beat ABC’s regional college football programming head-to-head in that demo, 2.3 to 1.9, making it the highest rated show of the night in that demo. The various football games averaged a 3.7 rating and 6.13 million viewers.
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The show drew a different audience than UFC programming. Unlike UFC, which draws its strongest audience, particularly of late with the current season of Ultimate Fighter, with Males 18-34, this show’s highest rated demos were Males between the ages of 35 and 54. The median viewer age was 41 years and three months, with 69% male viewers, a profile actually not too different from Monday Night Raw. UFC programming usually has a median viewer age of about 33.
As a comparison with this season of Ultimate Fighter, Males 18-34 has TUF at 3.52 and this show at 2.3. Males 35-49 has TUF at 2.28 and the CBS show at 2.7.
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As far as match-by-match ratings, Werdum vs. Silva gained 113,000 viewers and did a 2.15. Mousasi vs. Sokoudjou gained 178,000 viewers and did a 2.25. Jake Shields vs. Jason Miller gained 504,000 viewers and did a 2.63 rating. However, it peaked during the third round and lost 79,000 viewers in the fourth and fifth round.
The Emelianenko vs. Brett Rogers fight gained 1,493,000 viewers from the prior quarter, the second largest audience gain for any live fight in the short history of the sport on U.S. television. The record setting gain for a fight was 1,643,000 for the Gina Carano vs. Kelly Kobold fight on October 4, 2008 when Elite XC was on CBS.
Payout Perspective:
The M18-34 demographic is MMA’s greatest asset and leveraging tool at the moment. The desire of networks and advertising agencies to communicate with this demographic will ultimately be MMA’s Trojan horse – one that will allow the sport to gain the eyes and ears of the mainstream.
However, it’s interesting – although perhaps not surprising – that the Strikeforce card trended towards an older median viewing audience than the UFC. It’s the same sport, but the Strikeforce production is slightly more inhibited, and in some senses, more in-line with traditional combat sports presentations, which is likely why they skew more toward the 50 year-old edge of the MMA viewing demo.
Very interesting. Thanks for the report.
I’m glad that a promotion is making a go of it without resorting to merely copying the UFC’s approach. Maybe the good numbers showing an older viewership will make them stick with their presentation.
I, for one, am no big fan of the screaming and yelling done by the UFC announce team.
More promotions = more options and ways to present the sport.
PS – It seems today that all you see is violence in movies and sex on TV.
The vast majority of those 1.5M increased viewers were to due to people turning in to watch the news.
I think the real story will be told in Strikeforce’s 2nd show with Fedor headlining on CBS. That will show how much interest stirred up is actually sticking and gaining momentum.
In the coveted male 18-34 group (who don’t normally watch CBS on Saturday nights), the ratings increased from 2.2 during the 9-11 PM portion to 3.1 during the main event,, so it’s hard for me to see how the “vast majority” of the additional 1.5 million viewers were tuning into the 11 PM news. There is no way that the Saturday 11 PM news on CBS draws that many young male viewers. This was an atypical Saturday night CBS audience, both from 9-11 PM and from 11-11:15 PM.
Great news for Strikeforce and CBS. Strikeforce on Showtime/CBS and the UFC on Spike are two completely different animals. Strikeforce is converting MMA into a past time like production of boxing which legitimizes the sport a bit more towards the older demo. The UFC and Spike are targeting those that watch MANSwers and Sports Soup, 30 year olds and younger. A lot has to do with the type of audience those networks get in the first place.
People who follow MMA need to learn what the term “overrun” means and why ratings in the overrun period simply do not count. What you had were millions of older people turning on their local CBS station to catch the news, and what they got was a pudgy Russian fighting a fat black guy. This either made them angry that their news was delayed or they stopped out of curiousity… regardless, it is not an indicator of program success, but rather the fact that 1.5 million people WEREN’T watching CBS for the fights and then turned it there only when they thought the show was over.
Basic television ratings 101 plz.
Jackson,
As long as they got eyeballs on the fight, whether that was their intention or not, is a positive for Strikeforce and CBS. See Kimbo, who was also a main event fighter during an overrun last year.
Come on guys I will tell you this, defend strikeforce all you want, they had very good fights with bad a production. But I will gurantee this CBC would trade demographics with Spike in a Heart BEAT!! so praise all you want to strikeforce but Spike’s ratings is nothing to talk shit about!!