MMA Junkie reports that the prelims on Spike TV for UFC 135 grabbed an average of 1.6 million viewers with a peak of 1.73. It marks the third best audience of all time.
Via MMA Junkie:
Of the 22 “UFC Prelims” specials Spike TV has aired to date, UFC 135’s tied for the third-largest audience. Additionally, the one-hour broadcast was the highest-rated “UFC Prelims” special ever among men 18-34. It also was the No. 1 rated cable program in its timeslot among men 18-34 and men 18-49.
Payout Perspective:
Despite the array of television choices for the night, the UFC 135 Prelims did exceptionally well especially with its key demographics. This should add to the strategy for Spike as its obvious that it will begin to leverage its UFC library rights against the UFC to force its hand to either pay for the rights or allow it to go up against itself when it moves to Fox. The strong ratings could be seen as a sign that viewers inherently link Spike and the UFC; something that the UFC is weary of as it begins its transition.
Maybe the strong ratings were just a sign of UFC 135 prelims being on spike and people wanting to see them. Its not like 1.6 million people didnt know about the event and just wanted to see some fights and went to old reliable Spike TV. The UFC and Spike have been linked for a long time now. I doubt there are many people who are just now figuring it out.
If anything it is a sign that this PPV may have had more interest and sold more PPVs than people expected. Rampage and Jones did do a lot of media being on ESPN and Kimmel in addition to Jackson being a draw and Jones being the new attraction. Also the fights on the prelims were pretty exciting. especially the Boetsch. The other fight also had the current TUF winner than everyone seems to hate. Plenty of reason to care about this Prelims over all others.
Wondering if the buyrate has been released. Does not seem like a lot of interest going in, possibly 400K to 500K range max.