M-1 Global and Strikeforce announced last week that the worldwide broadcast of Fedor vs. Rogers did record numbers:
AMSTERDAM, HOLLAND (November 24, 2009) – M-1 Global and Strikeforce announced today that the international audience reports from broadcasters all over the world revealed an unprecedented number of viewers for the November 7th “Fedor vs. Rogers” MMA event from Chicago, Illinois.
“We are extremely happy with the preliminary broadcast reports,” said M-1 Global CEO Joost Raimond. “The demographics of these numbers were very promising as our network broadcasting partners in the U.S., Russia, and Korea reach an enormous audience alone. Coupled with a dozen other countries and our successful internet stream in Japan and other territories, all early accounts and indications tell us that “Fedor vs. Rogers” delivered worldwide more than any other MMA show in the history of the sport,” concluded Raimond.
Scott Coker, founder and owner of Strikeforce and experienced MMA promoter responded “We are thrilled with the tremendous viewership figures that the Fedor vs Rogers event generated overseas. The results clearly demonstrate the appreciation that fans worldwide have for a number of M-1 Global and Strikeforce mixed martial arts superstars including the number one fighter on the planet – Fedor Emelianenko – and his opponent Brett Rogers.”
In total, over 25 million MMA fans all around the world were treated to a vintage performance from the world’s greatest MMA fighter, Fedor Emelianenko. The main event of Fedor vs Rogers reached an impressive 5.46 million viewers in the United States on the CBS Network. The fight was also broadcast in Fedor’s native Russia by “Channel 1,” Russia’s largest television network, and reached 16 million viewers in Fedor’s home country. In addition, “Fedor vs. Rogers” was broadcast to millions of viewers in Korea on SBS, one of the 3 major national South Korean networks, as well as television networks in China, Latin America, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Ukraine, Finland, Africa, Turkey, Israel, Indonesia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Malta. Live internet streams of the “Fedor vs. Rogers” bout generated ground-breaking viewer numbers in Japan and all over the world and these numbers continue to grow through Video on Demand.
‘”CBS was proud to be the U.S. broadcaster in a fight seen by millions domestically and by millions more around the world,” commented CBS Senior Executive Vice President Kelly Kahl. “Strikeforce and M-1 Global put together a great card, showcasing some of the best fighters in the world. Our ad sales for the fight were strong, especially for advertisers that target young men — a group with a growing appetite for MMA.”
Payout Perspective:
The numbers certainly are impressive, but be careful to note the clever bit of PR spin: Fedor vs. Rogers is not the most watched fight in MMA history, but in terms of global viewership from so many countries it set a “worldwide” record. There is some question as to how reliable the figures really are, but it’s still a good result for the co-promotion.
Expect a rebuttle of sorts from the UFC – knowing them to be the competitive individuals that they are – regarding their international viewership. Lorenzo Fertitta has stated previously that UFC programming reaches an estimated 400 million people worldwide, and that figure is growing as they continue to lock-up distribution deals. Yet, they’ve never really commented on how well their fights are doing on a worldwide level.
There is a reason the UFC isn’t releasing their worldwide numbers all the time and somewhat guards numbers like this. Because it gets fighters to wondering about money and if they are getting their fair share.
25 million is good
It would be tough for the UFC to issue worldwide numbers since they have broadcast deals in over 50 countries.
Matt,
Most fighters know what shows do since most headliners are paid a portion of the ppv.
Yea I know that. The point I was trying to make is if Strikeforce is bragging about 25 million watching their fights then their fighters are going to want to get paid like 25 million people are watching them fight.
25 million worldwide is good for strikeforce/m1, but would be a disaster for the ufc on network tv. they could probably hit that mark in north america alone on free network tv. i think they could do 20 million with a huge mega show ( like ufc 100 with brock and gsp) in the states alone on free network tv such as abc or fox. if 1.7 million people paid to see 100, a mega show, just think how many of them were doing the beer and pizza thing, inviting 5-6 people over and how many people went to sports bars to watch. add all those into factor and it’s not inconcevable.
it is very hard to tell how many people are actually watching the ufc ppv’s world wide, but if they are available in over 130 countries and 400 million homes, i sincerely doubt 25 million is THE actual record. 🙂
This numbers are so.. controversial..
There is main media reseach group in Russia – TNS -http://www.tns-global.ru/
According to TNS reseach –
“Channel 1” with
“Бокс. Бой за титул чемпиона Мира по смешанным единоборствам в супертяжелом весе” (Fedor-Rogers fight)
made 3.8% rating ( 64,622,000 – all audience of TV viewers in Russia)
= 2.43 million viewers.
how it possible?
M-1&Strikeforce released – 16 ml
TNS released – 2.43 ml
Also from TNS data:
top 10 sports show – week 2-8 november 2009 (see source):
1. football, UEFA, 4 nov, “NTV” – 6.6%
2. Fedor-Rogers, 8 nov, “Channel1”- 3.8%
3. football, russian primer league, 8 nov, “Channel1”- 3.6%
Source (in russian, use online translation http://babelfish.yahoo.com) –
http://www.tns-global.ru/rus/data/ratings/tv/index.wbp?tv.action=search&tv.regionId=9B17541D-53F1-4092-BD51-83041DDAB639&tv.startDate=02.11.2009&tv.endDate=08.11.2009&tv.raitingNameId=8FF6AFBD-33A4-4C3E-83F2-91B52822DDD3&tv.genreId=B1592F6A-2392-4664-85E8-84A801E10E06
The UFC has always used tv numbers to plan their next “invasion”. Over the years i have heard of the UFC having a sizable fanbase in Brazil, Australia, Japan, etc. Recently the UFC has commented on the promising numbers they have got in the Phillipines with some of their tv deals there and claimed their Mexican tv deal drew record numbers. Add this to the European and Canadian efforts. I would Guarantee the UFC blows 25 million away.
I would say the biggest reason the UFC dont mention world wide ratings is it is meaningless and counter productive. If they come and like M1 and claim 25 million. Big Deal. There are shows that do that each week on Network TV in JUST the USA. Realizing that makes the 25 million look amateurish. The UFC wants to look like and be a world wide power.
Also the numbers are miss leading as its better to have 10 million viewers in 1 area than have 100K in 10 countries(=10 million), You cant do anything with small viewers spread across the world. You need large groups so you can concentrate your efforts to expand Tv deals, merchandising, and bring live shows.
Your math is way off mark with that 100kx10=10 mill. Makes your whole post seem dubious.
As for the numbers… 16 million in Russia alone sounds like a big number… not sure if that’s true. I do think that UFC gets higher numbers worldwide because it’s on free TV in many countries out there.
What’s also true is that in the strictest financial sense, 1 million PPV buys is a lot better than 25 million viewers on free TV.
Great numbers no doubt but not even close to the most watched event ever. A good number of MMA events in Japan did over 30 million viewers and lets not forget UFC 100. I think it’s pretty obvious that UFC 100 was the most watched event in history hands down.