Bill Gorman of TVbytheNumbers reports that Strikeforce: Nashville earned a 1.0 rating and 3 share of the household from an average audience of 2.63 million viewers on CBS on Saturday.
9:00 FOX America’s Most Wanted 1.5 5 5.41 NBC Law & Order (repeat) 1.1 4 5.57 CBS Strikeforce Saturday Night Fights, 9-11p 1.0 3 2.63
CBS Strike Force Saturday Night Fights
9:00 p.m. – Viewers: 2.57 million (#4), A18-49: 0.8/ 3 (#4)
9:30 p.m. – Viewers: 2.55 million (#4), A18-49: 1.0/ 3 (#4)
10:00 p.m. – Viewers: 2.89 million (#3), A18-49: 1.2/ 4 (#2)
10:30 p.m. – Viewers: 2.52 million (#3), A18-49: 1.0/ 3 (#2)
Payout Perspective:
The ratings are way down 30% compared to the last Strikeforce on CBS card which drew 3.79 million on average (a number that didn’t count the 5+ million that tuned in to watch Fedor fight). I’ll caution that we need to wait for some of the specific demo numbers, but those aren’t likely to be stellar.
If you combine these ratings with the lacklustre fight card and barn yard brawl to end the evening, Strikeforce’s future on CBS is looking pretty bleak. CBS could easily achieve similar ratings with other programming (and avoid all the controversy and negative spillover that MMA brings with regard to CBS’ existing audience).
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Beyond the pure percentage drop from the last event to this one, I also find it interesting that viewership actually declined over the last half hour of the show. We don’t know what the main event drew, because the show ran over, but typically these ratings build as the show progresses toward the main event. Is that a reflection of Dan Henderson’s ability to draw or perhaps the 15 minute gap around 10:40 where highlights from the Miller fight were shown and a bunch of commercials were dumped? I suppose we’ll see in a few days.
wow, that is not good, I’m surprised, I thought with the promos during the NCAA would carry it to a bigger rating, but to a casual fan I don’t think those fights caught their attention.
It will be interesting to see where Strikeforce goes from here, I can’t imagine with the brawl and these numbers that CBS is going to rush to give them another show, or at least eat any of the costs associated with running one. I imagine M-1 may be tougher to renegotiate with because they can argue Fedor’s card drew bigger numbers. They may have to make a hail mary and see if they can get on a basic cable station, if their Showtime contract allows them. The May 15th event could be the most exciting MMA event in history, but if no casual fans are watching it won’t matter much.
Key point:
These numbers are not great (very similar to EliteXC’s second show at the moment), but note that the main event (Shields vs Henderson) occurred in the overrun, which are not represented in these overnight numbers. Those numbers will be out later on this week.
True Jose, but the lowest 1/2 hour up there is right before the overrun, so even if there’s a bounce, it could easily be attributed to people tuning in for the news, not the Strikeforce show
My guess is that they can get by OK on Showtime as long as they don’t try to put on the ridiculous cards that CBS was asking for. Our next clue of what is going on may be if they cancel the June show that Fedor was supposed to be on. Fedor was worth the risk when they were trying to make network happen. But at this point I can’t see any reason for Strikeforce to not tell M1 to walk of they aren’t happy
It is a real shame. Strikeforce seemed to have every thing in their favor going into last night and the wheels seem to have just fallen off.
Stan:
You are correct, but eyeballs on your product are still counted as viewers as long as they were able to retain them. The overrun was not 5 or 10 minutes, but 45 minutes, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to see if they were able to retain those viewers.
You also have to remember that the half hour before the overrun, they did a commercial dump, which resulted in the main event taking place during the overrun (possibly viewers changing channels), so it will be interesting to see if a spike or bump occurs.
Interesting Observations:
“Strikeforce”, “Jason Mayhem Miller”, “Strikeforce Brawl”, “Jake Shields vs Dan Henderson” and “Strikeforce Nashville” all trended on Google and “Strikeforce Brawl” and “Jason Mayhem Miller” was the #1 and #2 searched items on Google for a good amount of time.
“King Mo”, “Jake Shields”, and “Strikeforce” trended on Twitter for the first time ever last night.
Strikeforce producing these scattered events throughout the year is not a great model for attracting casual or new fans. Hard cores will find the product but casual observers cannot relate to the fighters. If CBS wants more success they have to commit to a monthly series and build some stars not just pick up some UFC leftovers. Strikeforce has been put in a bad position of big payouts to attract fighters to their organization. I have a question for the comments is the MMA scene big enough for two UFC organizations?
Jose,
The numbers in the last scheduled quarter were less than the start of the event, that was not the case in the past. I don’t see Hendo/Shields delivering big numbers.
I must not get why the overrun numbers would be that big a deal. It’s not going to change the fact that the first two hours of the show got poor ratings. I mean the majority of the commercials were during those first two hours and the overrun isn’t going to change how many viewers saw those commercials during those first two hours.
Well, this can’t be considered great numbers for CBS, although we won’t get the final numbers until Tuesday, this gives us a good indication on where MMA on prime time will end up. It is my opinion, and has been for some time, that these Organizations are better off on channels such as Showtime and Spike, but even more coveted channels such as HBO or ESPN.
Strikeforce has themselves to blame only. Putting on 3 title fights to fill 2 hours of TV is insane considering who they matched up. The only fight that had any chance of finishing early was Shields vs Henderson.
So what now? I don’t know myself. I don’t think Strikeforce should bother pursuing Fedor at this junction. They need to keep it simple and stay with some of the less expensive contracts and try to build an organization a bit slower. Having guys like Walker are good for business, selling tickets and TV ratings but not if they end up breaking the bank.
Matt, Jeremy:
You guys are correct about the overrun not changing the poor numbers during the first two hours, but the Main Event is typically were most of the ratings come from, so I am interested to see how it does and what the 18-34 numbers are.
To many TV adds and the announcers looked like they just got out of church and there was very little blood CBS is trying to clean it up to much.
A lot of people did not know it was on and the ones I talked to thought it was to boring …they did not know the fighters because they have not fought in a long time give it time I hope CBS and the people will come around .
I don’t think Strikeforce is ready CBS . If was UFC event Guaranty the numbers would be higher .
Bad 2 weeks for MMA..
I find it funny that Dana and his legion of ball suckers think it’s a good thing this show was crap, if MMA fans keep getting shit shows they won’t be buying shit any more. People really think the idiot casual fans know the difference between UFC and strike force? They call everything UFC no matter what MMA it is.
Jake, those people are not MMA fans, they are UFC fans. It is a big difference and I’ve noticed such trends over the years with so-called fans of the sport. I think in general the last 2 weeks have been a setback for the sport. Whether it involves “global” expansion or mainstream acceptance on major TV, both were an utter failure. I say “global” in quotes because the sport is already global and the word global in this sense is used for UFC’s version of global (whatever that is).
I’m not a big fan of MMA on network TV at this stage. I think it needs time to sort itself out and when you have events like Strikeforce on CBS without UFC champions in the mix it sends an awkward message. Until the sport can co-promote on an honest level, it’s best for MMA to stay on sport or special interest channels. I mean you barely, if not at all, see any wrestling on network TV and I’d be safe to say the two business models are very similar. MMA is not basketball or baseball or any major league sport.
The casual fans call it all Ultimate Fighting but I can guarantee they know when they AREN’T watching UFC. Which is why these shows suffer in the ratings. If the UFC did a show on one of the big four networks it would do a really nice number. The UFC has no reason to go to a major network at this point because of all the reasons the strikeforce production is lackluster. The bad announcing of Gus Johnson, the cutting away during ring entrances, and the controlling of who fights on what shows are things the UFC seems to have zero interest in giving up control over. And I can see why
I’m not sure the UFC would do much better on CBS than they do on Spike. Spike is basically the UFC Channel. For big cards that they put on Spike they do a couple of million – similar numbers to Strikeforce on CBS. I think that’s pretty much the same number they would do on CBS. Everyone is under the impression that the UFC would crush it if they were on Primetime, but most people who are not hillbillies living out in the sticks have basic cable and even UFC numbers on Spike have been trending downwards. I think we may have to accept the fact that re-runs of “Ghost Whiserer” and other crap like that are going to be more popular with mainstream America than a sport with moves called “flying guillotines” and “rear-naked chokes” will ever be.
With that said, I hope Strikeforce can turn this around. It’s good for the sport to have shows on Primetime, even if the ratings aren’t huge.
Marc,
agreed, the production and editing was terrible and the announcing crew was abysmal. I just don’t get it.
I think they had bad luck since all 3 champioship matches went full 5 rounds. Most of the time was not very entertaining for a common viewer. Im not suprised people changed channel.
sorry to say mma is a fad flash in the pan type thing. the only way it could have survived is if hoyce gracie never fought in the ufc.
gracie jujitsu killed mma. nobody wants to see guys “rolling” for 30 minutes looking for a submission. if the ufc was a public company i would be shorting that fuckin stock like crazy. cause there eventually gonna fold like elitexc IFL ect.
UFC is a money racket for the frettattas. there going bankrupt losing everything, thats why the older brother took danas job cause he lost his other job at the casino. they fixed kimbos fight against houston, they keep tryin to sell you iceman vs. ortiz all these old guys from ufcs height in 06-07. there a bunch of frauds, and there all gonna end up in jail one day. if they really did the ppv numbers they say they did. believe me theyd be a public company. all the guys there at the front office are about the money if they finiancally did as well as they say they do. they would be a public company. read between lines…
Hi Joe,
With respect to the financial comments Is this just your opinion or is it based on some data? Although I do not believe the actual numbers that get presented for the UFC, it’s not hard to access that they are doing very well. Just talk to the average “JOE’s” out there buying their PPVs. It is no doubt that UFC is more popular than wrestling and boxing and both do well in PPV.
joe that was the most uneducated garbage i have seen in a while. Apparently people do want to see “guys rolling for 30 minutes” because the first UFC’s did hundreds of thousands of PPV buys. The UFC isnt going out of business anytime soon. They made to much money through to many different avenues. Lorenzo didnt take Dana job. He made himself co president. Dana and Lorenzo have the same power as before only now Lorenzo actually has a title in the UFC rather than the power behind the thrown. Lorenzo also didnt lose his job with station casinos. He and his borther owned the company. How can he lose his job? His brother is still there. So i dont see anywhere share holders voted him out. Your making stuff up.
How did they fix the Kimbo fight? Kimbo beat him. The only thing the UFC was guilty of was creative match making.
Yes the UFC tries to sell us Chuck vs Tito. Thats called good business sense. Skill wise they probably are not UFC caliber anymore. BUt the only other option is to get them beat and release them only to have them sign with Striekforce and use their popularity to work against the UFC. Keeping them relevant is the smart thing to do. Also how do their PPV success mean they would be a publicly traded company? Why would they sell off ownership of something that is so successful. The companies who have been publicly traded in MMA have been the unsuccessful ones who used(wasted) public money to attempted to achieve UFC status. Also why would Zuffa take the UFC public when they spent the last 5 years trying to buy back shares of station casinos from investors. Zuffa dont like to answer to anyone when it comes to their business. But to you that some how means they are lying about thier PPV buys(for which they never make numbers public, so the media is lying for the UFC) Yes thats makes a lot of sense. lol