The broadcast of the TUF Finale last Saturday brought the 12th season of the UFC’s reality series to a close. The Finale earned a 1.4 HH rating on the strength of 2.0 million average viewers, while garnering a 2.3 in the M18-34 and a 1.9 in the M18-49.
This seems like a perfect time to analyze and compare the television ratings of this season to previous seasons. I’ve also included a few of my general observations from the season below.
TUF 12 Ratings
In looking over the history of this show, TUF 12 was by far the most consistent from episode to episode in terms of its overall household audience. However, the composition is an entirely different matter as the show actually peaked with M18-34 towards the end of the year, which is uncommon for TUF. Typically, the show starts out with a solid audiences and wanes towards the end of the season.
TUF Ratings 1-12
TUF 12 is now the 5th highest rated season of the series’ six year, twelve season run. It’s hard to believe it’s been six years.
If you look at the ratings post TUF 10, there’s an appreciable increase of about .2 hh or roughly 300,000–400,000 viewers on average. There’s no guarantee this increase will hold, but it’s probably fair to say that we can attribute this material increase to the UFC’s tremendous 2009 in which it destroyed its PPV record and TUF 10 was hotter than the sun.
Sergio Non of USA Today and I had a small discussion over Twitter the other day about the nature of the UFC’s growth and whether it’s sustainable in the United States. I believe the short answer is “no” simply because it’s hard for any company to sustain 20-30% growth year over year for more than a few years at a time. However, I do believe the UFC still has room to grow within the United States (even without a network television deal), because it has yet to put together a full year of engaging, high quality fight cards like it now can with the addition of the 135 and 145 weight classes. Imagine a string of fight events like UFC 111-118 that lasts an entire year.
The same can be said for this TUF series. The show goes as does the quality of its fight calibre and story telling. TUF needs the optimal mix of both great fights and great drama in order to succeed. This season we saw a little bit more of both with some solid fights (less sloppiness than in previous years) and a numerous story lines between the likes of St. Pierre and Koscheck or Leeroy and the entire house.
General Observations
- Georges St-Pierre was able to wear Under Armour clothing this season. This is something that surprised me given the UFC’s relationship with Tapout and how restrictive its been in the past with Under Armour specifically. I now wonder whether this opens the door for other fighters to wear their brands while coaching on the show. Urijah Faber is rumored to be in line for a coaching spot somewhere down the road. His deals with K-Swiss/Form and AMP Energy pose interesting possibilities from a sponsorship activation perspective.
- I’ve got to give Spike credit. They did away with those awful mid-commercial clips that would bring viewers back to their sets only to send the program out for commercial again.
All that kept me watching were the great fights, as they were a lot better than most seasons I can remember.
Regarding the UFC being able to sustain their growth in the United States, I agree with you for the most part, however …. North America is a different story. They have hardly begun to scratch the surface of the ridiculously lucrative Canadian market, and while I don’t see Mexico becoming a huge market for them, I do think it has the potential to become a solid secondary/tertiary market for them.
Jason,
TUF 12 Finale: 1.4hh, 2 million viewers
Strikeforce: 1.2hh, 341,000 viewers
It’s always difficult to draw a realistic comparison given the difference in the size and nature of the networks. However, TUF won out both on aggregate viewers and share of the network.
This, of course, says little about the shows we saw that night. I think most would agree that Strikeforce put together the more entertaining card. Just the way it goes sometimes…
Steve,
The scope of our conversation was limited to the United States. I think everyone would agree that there are a host of markets beyond the US that might allow the UFC to continue growing at a rapid rate. Canada is certainly one of them. Mexico has potential, but is still going to battle with the combat sports paradigm that exists in the country (essentially that boxing and standing toe-to-toe is the best way to fight). Then you’ve got the UK, Australia, Brazil, China, Russia, etc. that all pose interesting opportunities.
Kelsey
People seem to forget the 800 lb gorilla in the room when it comes to UFC growth in the US. That is the Hispanic demographic. I know it is going to be very hard to get them in. But the UFC has done a better job recently than ever before getting them connected with the product and the fighters. The majority of the hispanics have only seen Cain fight one time so far. It will be very telling to see what kind of buzz there is and see the following he has for his next fight. There is always big opportunities liek this out there to expand the UFC reach. One can take off at anytime. I never feel comfortable making a prediction of whether they have peaked or not. There is no way to know.
I would love to be a partner in a business that has peaked where the UFC is right now:
A successful TV series on cable that averages 1.8 M viewers per episode and cleans up in the 18-34 demos.
~20 PPV events per year worth millions at the gate and setting records for total PPV buys + a couple of other shows on cable that do 2M+ viewers and again clean up in the 18-34s.
Just the PPVs are generating hundreds of millions in revenue – year in, year out. Do we have a total for PPV buys this year? Add 900k for the GSP fight this weekend and multiply by $45. That comes out to roughly: Merry Christmas.That’s a peak that gives you nosebleeds.