MMAPayout.com has learned that UFC on Versus 1 on Sunday night generated a 1.1 HH rating, drawing an average audience of 1.24 million people. The event peaked at a 1.3 HH with 1.4 million viewers tuning in to watch Jon Jones take on Brandon Vera.
Not surprisingly, the event also faired very well in MMA’s core demographics, scoring a 1.66 in M18-34, 1.72 in M18-49, and 1.21 in P18-49.
Payout Perspective:
I can’t speak for the UFC, but going into the event my own expectation was that anything over 1 million should be considered a success for this event given the fact that Versus is a.) smaller than Spike, b.) arguably less popular, and c.) the most we’d seen out of MMA on Versus was around 1.3-1.6 million viewers.
The fact that the ratings were less than what the UFC would have likely generated on Spike TV further highlights the long-term nature of the deal with Versus. The UFC is trying to diversify some of its distribution and reach new markets/fans; and in Versus it’s getting a channel with a different location in the cable line-up and different demographic altogether (one that skews more towards the sports side). Had the UFC wanted to get a 2.0 or better, it would have gone with Spike, but it would have been the same set of people that always watch the Spike program – here it was a little different.
I’d expect the event in August to do 1.5 million or greater; especially given what’s likely to be two very strong Spring and Summer quarters for the UFC.
Kelsey, agreed these are good numbers.
I think a good amount of people were caught off guard that it was only 3rd most watched MMA event on the channel. Most predicted (rightly so because of the UFC brand and the great card the UFC put on paper), that this event would beat the WEC events.
Actually, they are terrible numbers..Spike fight nights typically average 1.8 million viewers with somegoing as high as 2.5 million. This UFC event was lower rated than some WEC fights. Maybe look at the complete lack of consumer promotion Versus did around this fight for some answers.
Marty read the article. The numbers are good. Keep in mind Verses is not in as many households as Spike. Also it is important to remember that Verses could have lost some of its core viewers during their Direct TV hiatus. How many were not aware Verses was back on? Fact is this event went a long way to letting more people know Verses is back on and better than ever. The UFC is giving them a shot in the arm and soon the UFC will have 2 decent level networks working with them.
versus continues to be a bull riding/bike riding/hockey channel.
if you need some evidence of that, check out how little money they spent to promote this fight? where’s the jon jjones billboards and print ads? where were the radio spots? tv spots? but beyond that look at the terrible effort of selling integration into the fights. Beyond Harley Davidson who sponsor all Zuffa events, what did Versus sell? Wrangler. Hmm, i’m guessing makegoods from PBR. no sponsor for tale of the tape, replays, etc…
no effort. no ratings, no sales. second tier sports channel.
Good eyes MM. I noticed the interesting adertiser mix but missed the vacant in program elements
Although Marty’s comments seem a tad cynical, I think he strikes a cord. This was the 3rd most watched MMA event on Versus behind 2 WEC events. I’m not sure why it did not do better but I don’t think it’s going to reach any new markets if that’s what they are trying to achieve. The underlying issue is that the UFC are unwilling to compromise with a top broadcasting channel so they will never reach any of these so called untapped fan base. I guess they can continue relying on Strikeforce on CBS for that? I know I wouldn’t.
– UFC on Versus challenges. –
1. Some didn’t know VS was back on Direct Tv.
2. Basketball was on.
3. Up and coming talent facing mid level known talent.
4. Overlap marketing with UFC 111.
The numbers were solid.
just want the ufc to succeed…but after all that talk from dw about how they were going to be on HBO, ESPN, CBS, NBC, etc they end up on Versus doing smaller numbers than a spike fight or WEC fights. Jones/Vera was a big fight that was under promoted by versus. Kongo is a PPV fighter…there was nothing wrong with the card.
I agree with the negative view on this. Regardless of the technical reasons, this was maybe the least watched free live event ever on record for UFC from a quick look at the MMA Payout Blue Book. This despite being one of the better cards on paper in their free event history, at least out of the Ultimate Fight Nights and TUF Finales. I bet the UFC brass is disappointed that this wasnt the biggest mma show ever on Versus. I think it’s a mistake for UFC to try to grow with Versus – they should be looking at networks that can make them grow instead of networks that they are trying to help build up. UFC has made too much progress to make a lateral move like this.
marty michaels: “heck out how little money they spent to promote this fight? where’s the jon jjones billboards and print ads? where were the radio spots? tv spots?”
MM: This is another reason why I feel the UFC could not do an April 17th event. They really needed to focus on advertising the UFC on Versus card, then follow it up with UFC 11, UFN: Gomi vs Florian (which also isn’t getting much pub), UFC 112, and then the proposed 4/17 event. Could you imagine how difficult it would have been for the UFC to properly promote these cards that are only several weeks apart?
In the long run, the UFC is trying to become one of Versus key sports programming so that when Vs becomes NBC Sports, the UFC would benefit in the long run from that. I’m sure they are willing to take their short term losses as a small price to pay in exchange for the benefits they hope to reap in the long run. Though, this best case scenario assumes that NBC Sports tries to challenge ESPN, but at this point, I am not sure anyone want’s to really do that.
They sold some stuff like the Harley Davidson “Shifting Gears Moment” that aired in the middle of the program, in addition to Bud Light sponsorship of the key strengths (I guess you could call them) of each fighter.
I’m more inclined to think this is a UFC issue, rather than a Versus issue, simply because they’re fairly inconsistent with it from event to event.
At the moment there are a few different things I’d like to see them doing on the activation front – things which they could sell – to really strengthen the connection between its UFC brand and various sponsor brands like BL or HD.
However, it’s certainly fair to call the UFC/Versus on the amount of promotion; the reason why my expectations weren’t so high and it’s also the reason why I don’t think they’re really all that upset with what they got on Sunday. I do think, though, that this illustrates that Zuffa has reached maximum capacity in terms of fight promotion: they’ve essentially got six cards in eight weeks here (Versus, 111, UFN, 112, WEC 48, and 113)
Did anyone ever think that this card was created when Verses was off Direct TV? What i mean is Direct TV and Verses come to terms not long before the UFC event ran. Verses and the UFC were anticipating running without Direct TV which was going to create bad numbers no matter what you do as we saw with the last WEC event. Without Direct TV why waste money promoting? With the last minute agreement the UFC was in “take what we can get” mode.
Add to this that Verses sure didnt gain fans by disappearing from peoples TV. They more than likely fell off the radar of many viewers when they came back. There is also the possibility that the UFC dont want to promote to many events at one time for fear of confusing the consumer. Its best to keep majority of focus on the PPV events.
This was a god event that established the UFC on Verses and increased the awareness of Verses to the 2-3 million UFC viewers who watch the UFC on Spike but dont cross over for the WEC.
I remember hearing a couple of months ago that NBC maybe planning to push Versus as an all sports network in the future. If this turns out to be true I think this maybe a very good long term decision for the UFC.
I would like to see what the percentage of households watching vs. households available were in comparison to UFC numbers on Spike.