MMA Payout has confirmed that the ratings for The Ultimate Fighter 13, Episode 2 drew 1.2 million viewers. The show pulled a 1.0 overall household rating and 1.13 with M18-49 and 1.4 in M18-34.
The show featured a decent second elimination match. It also had contestant Keon Caldwell voluntarily leave the show (and basically end his MMA career). Also, we were introduced a little more to dos Santos’ assistant coach Lew Polley. Hopefully, he should bring some spark to this season.
We would be remiss without mentioning the new additions in sponsorship this season which include Dodge, Stacker and Tapout Pro. Also, the fighters have used unique training equipment during workouts. Last week, Lesnar led his team in training with an eggbeater-type cycle for their arms. Last night, dos Santos’ team used elevation training masks.
Payout Perspective:
Still early in the season, but we already have concern about the ratings. While many thought the premiere ratings were low, the second episode was lower. Based on Dana White’s recent comments, nothing will change about the show. But, there may be tweaks next season. Frankly, the ratings are surprising given the fact that Brock Lesnar is a top draw on PPV.
It will be interesting to see whether viewership will catch on, or not.
Hard to believe Brock is not a bigger draw than that.
“Based on Dana White’s recent comments…”
I think we both know not to base anything on those comments. If the ratings continue to decline you can bet they’ll make big changes to the show. It’s very interesting that the presence of Brock Lesnar hasn’t gotten the show better ratings. I wouldn’t say his PPV drawing power has diminished just yet (the buyrate of UFC 131 should help clarify that), but obviously people aren’t as interested in seeing him coaching as many had expected, and I’m sure Spike/Zuffa had hoped.
Another thing I hadn’t considered, which was put forth in a comment on an article over at MMAJunkie, is that Lesnar was a big heel for the organization. Everyone wanted him to lose, and it almost happened against Carwin. Afterwards, it was shown that he COULD be beaten, so anti-Brock fans were even more interested in his next fight. Then Cain Velasquez wrecked him, so those same people got a big release of their hatred towards him. Now that that’s over, and Brock has shown he is beatable by a pressuring striker with good takedown defense, the interest and ire have really declined. Thinking about the way I’ve felt about Lesnar during his UFC career, I can relate to this hypothesis, and I’m now much more interested in seeing what Dos Santos can do than Brock. I think that this scenario, coupled with the admittedly stale format of the show, AND the fact that the fights in TUF tend to be lousy (TUF 12 was largely an exception to this rule, and when combined with the coaches feud, is why I believe the ratings for last season were better). Dana has promised that the show starts slow and picks up steam, but if that’s the case will people still be watching by the time that happens (IF it happens)?
My tidbits on this:
1) WWE’s Tough Enough debut did 3.3 mill viewers & 2.5 HH > TUF’s first 2 ratings combined (1.0 + 1.0), 1.48m + 1.2m
2) Brock Lesnar’s avg viewership for last 4 PPV events (1.21 million at $50/ppv) similar to TUF numbers on Spike TV for first two episodes (1.35 mill) #UFC #Spike
The only problem with #2 is TUF is 1.3 million people while the PPV is not people but Buys. It is widely believed that there is an average of at least 3 or 4 people watching per buy. No one pays $50 and watches it by themselves. I would say about 4 million watched his PPV not even counting business accounts like bars which have upwards of a could hundred people each.
I am supruised about the ratings as i figured pro wrestling fans would be all over it. But there are some good reasons why the ratings are not there. Few have an interest watching someone who is new and has almost no knowledge of the sport try to teach others. Viewers themselves will learn very little watching him. Secondly, i think most people who are intrigued by Brock want to see him be the bad guy. Not Mr Nice guy playing gym teacher.
I knew going in there would not be a rivalry between the coaches. A friend argued this with me. There was no way Brock was going to talk trash at Santos after coming off of 2 bad fights verses someone as dangerous as Santos. He has been humbled in a way and he isnt going to come in like hes the cock of the walk. Also with limited English Santos wouldn’t be a good person to try and trash talk.
The biggest ratings killer of all is people only tune it for the prospect of a big fight. Be it verses contestants or coaches. People really believed Tito and Ken could get in a fight. Same with Hughes vs Serra to an extent and QJ vs Evans. ALso everyone knew they would get to see Kimbo fight. If Kimbo was a coach or a guest on the show and not a fighter then i doubt the ratings would be very good. People dont tune in to see a fighter not fight.
MMA seems to be on a bit of slump lately, with buyrates and viewership a tad lower than last year. I’m sure as UFC 129 comes around there will be much more media coverage. Than again based on what happened with CBS and Zuffa today, who knows. Maybe the big media will decide not to cover UFC anymore?
I liken this season to the Mir-Big Nog season. The two coaches liked each other and there was no real controversy EXCEPT Junie Browning. We haven’t seen too much of the contestants to get a sense of who they are. The insertion of dos Santos Lew Polley as an irritant could help stir the pot.
My theories for the low ratings is that there is no drama and personalities this season that have drawn fans in, Lesnar’s stock took big hit from loss to Cain & Dos Santos is pretty much unknown to many fans. GSP vs Kos was a huge season for TUF & this season is lacking firepower and even good fights so far.
I am surprised that the pro-wrestling fans aren’t giving it more of a boost though.
It was just announced that The Ultimate Fighter will be Broadcast on ESPN UK. It will be interesting to see what the ratings are in the U.K., keeping in mind the different “ratings” landscape that exists there. This made me ask the question (which I had not consdered before), have there been any international markets where TUF shows are broadcast? And if not, is it the contract with Spike TV that precludes such international broadcasts?