MMAPayout.com has learned that episode nine of TUF 11 drew a 1.1 HH rating on the strength of 1.5 million viewers Wednesday night, which is an improvement from last week’s episode (season low 1.0). The broadcast also drew well in the M18-34 and M18-49 demographics with a 1.53 and 1.33, respectively.
Quarterlies: .99, 1.06, 1.05, 1.26
UFC Primetime: Rashad vs. Rampage aired its final episode the same night to an audience of 1.1 million viewers.
Payout Perspective:
The “firing” of Tito Ortiz was likely responsible for the up-tick in ratings for this week’s show and the way Spike cut the episodes leads me to believe they’ve left enough on next week’s episode to help it draw beyond the 1.0 mark as well.
Primetime delivered a very strong 1.1 million viewers in which the conversion from TUF was more than 73% (up from 67% in the previous two episodes). UFC 114 is gaining a great deal of momentum and is looking to be a stellar show for the company.
I think the down week last week for both shows can be attributed to the Lakers/Suns NBA Playoff game going on at the same time. I believe that Lakers/Suns game got 7 million viewers. In fact I watched quite a bit of that NBA game and only occasionally flipped over to TUF and Primetime during commercials. This week I just left it on Spike.
This week’s numbers were in line with the overall season, so why does there need to be a reason the increase? One lower week does not a trend make.
Kelsey, you do a fantastic job, but you have been clear that you feel TUF needs to be overhauled. This season has done well and yet you almost seem to be looking for excuses for the good numbers.
It’s going to be really tough to get a big number with the NHL playoff final round starting on Saturday and the NBA playoffs on as well. I’m skeptical that the casual fans are going to worry that much about the UFC when the flagship sports are in post season.
I’ll give this event 650K buys which would be around 150K more than the Rua vs Machida with Kimbo show. Even 650K feels a bit generous. I’ll head to the usual bar tomorrow night and report back on the crowd.
This PPV has 800K PPVs written all over it. ESPN has done a very good job so far pushing it. Every PPV i remember ESPN getting into has done well. Plus the drama between the fighters and it being a tough fight to call. Evans is the more skilled guy technically. BUt he dont take punches well and isnt powerful. QJ has power and toughness. I think QJ will be losing when he catches Evans at some point.
As for TUF episode. I didnt see where Tito got fired from the show. From what i remember of the show i think Tito stays on. Everyone seems to assume Franklin will come on as a coach just because he is fighting Chuck but i dont believe so. The coaches have not fought each other before when Franklin and Hughes were coaches. So why toss Tito over an “injury”? Even without the fight Tito and Chuck will still talk shit which is why they are coaches anyway. I would be suprised if they changed coaches.
Just back from the bar, pretty thin crowd. I’m going to stick with 650K max. It was a good fight but Rampage looked pretty lethargic.
Wow, really? My regular spot in Eugene was packed – more people than I’ve ever seen.
Hi Kelsey,
Maybe it’s a Canadian thing 🙂 I could see the fight being big in the US will all the hype and trash talk. Anyway, from what I’ve read trending data is leading to 800K buys, but I’ll stick to my prediction just so you all know I’m a man of my word LOL
Our bar, in St. Paul, was packed to the gills for the main event. That was the most I have ever seen for the UFC.
I think the final number will be 825k.
Eugene, Oregon is definitely not an MMA hotbed, but there were a ton of people talking about this fight on campus and the turn out at the bar was fantastic.
Hopefully the UFC can build off of this momentum – I think most people will want to see another UFC card after watching 114.
With all these bars packed maybe most people decided to go out and watch the even instead of paying for it at home. Food for thought.