MMA Payout has confirmed from Spike TV that the premiere episode of The Ultimate Fighter 13 scored an audience average of 1.5 million viewers. The show was the top rated cable show for its time slot in the key demographics of M18-34 and M18-49.
TUF earned a 1.51 in M18-49, a 1.93 in M18-34, and 1.0 household average. The repeat received 633,000 viewers.
In comparison to prior TUF debuts, the Kimbo Slice TUF received 4.1 million viewers. TUF 12 received 1.6 million.
Payout Perspective:
The episode featured the kinder, gentler Brock Lesnar and the affable Junior dos Santos. There does not seem to be Ken-Tito, Rashard-Rampage or Matt-Matt heat this season. Will this be a detriment to the viewership? If Lesnar-JDS do not provide the heat, it would be up to the contestants to provide viewers something to watch. It will be interesting to see how this season does.
Still pretty early in the season but it does appear some type of heat would be required to bring up the ratings. 1.0 share for a season opener seems rather dismal.