The 10th and final episode of TUF 14 garnered the highest rating for the season with an average viewership of 1.7 million viewers. The ratings results were sent out via an email by Spike TV officials.
Via MMA Junkie:
Wednesday’s episode, which concluded the season’s quarterfinal round, scored a 1.7 rating among men ages 18-49 and a 1.91 among men 18-34
The 14th season of TUF averaged 1.5 million viewers for the season. The average is up from season 13 but the 12th season garnered a 1.7 million average.
The last episode featured two nice knockouts by John Dodson and Diego Brandao. One observation. On Dodson’s KO, during the fight someone was yelling out for a 4 (right uppercut). But Dodson used a 5 or 3 (left uppercut/left hook) for his KO. Another interesting mention is that Miller/Bisping will be the first time coaches will be fighting in 9 seasons.
Payout Perspective:
Was this season’s TUF a success? It did bounce back from TUF 13’s disappointing ratings. It also did what it planned to do: showcase the bantamweight and featherweight divisions. We saw great pace and action in most fights on the show which was the intent of featuring the divisions on TUF. For that, I think viewers will pay more attention to these divisions.
Unfortunately for the finale, TUF 14 seems like a lame duck on Spike TV. With the buzz and excitement of Zuffa’s move to Fox, little has been done to promote this Saturday’s TUF Finale.
On a broader scale, how much does TUF help the careers of those that get on the show.
ESPN’s Josh Gross commented:
TUF is a ratings grabber, and as such a valued television property. That’s fine. But it’s hard to get past the fact that absent TUF’s early seasons, as a vehicle for new stars carrying a lasting impact inside the Octagon, the show is as meaningful to the UFC as Golf Channel’s “The Big Break” has been to the PGA Tour.
I don’t think we’ll see a Matt Serra-type scenario ever again which was an initial allure of the show. The fact that anyone can come out of nowhere and win a championship made for good television. As Gross points out in his article, competition for talent is fierce and most up and coming talented fighters would not need a show to get into the UFC. So, we’ll see how the UFC and Fox handle TUF from here on out. It will definitely need to stress the personal stories of its fighters as well as rely on interesting coaches to keep viewers interested.
I like your point about Matt Cera. Maybe they will add more reclamation project type fights like Micah Miller this year or Wes Simms from a prior one. Remember, you do not need to win the show to make the UFC, just need to do well enought to get on the TUF Finale show and win impressively there.
I liked this season just fine and it was needed to fill out the ranks, hopefully, at 135 and 145.
Not sure why TUF15 will have another 155 crew although 170 is fine. I think they need 185 more than 155 since there is still so much overload of talent and mid-level guys at 155.
Gross is right about the talent. BUt i think it is clear the UFC doesnt want to put great talent on the show. The show is like a tournament. When you have to fight and win 3-4 straight times with out your normal training routine, coaches, and short notice vs guys you know little about. It is very hard to win. Putting a big talent on there would just be wasted. Also it seems the fighters lose a little of the mystic about them when everyone knows them to well from TUF. The UFC has brought in a ton of big name guys that they didnt put on the show. There is also been many guys who tried out for the show and the UFC brought them straight into the UFC and didnt want them on the show.
Some of the guys from the first TUFs werent that great. The UFC protected them very well and brought them along slowly. Something they quit doing with later winners. As the UFC roster filled with the first couple season contestants the UFC had to start weeding out the guys from the newer seasons. I think there were a little better fighters due to the sport being untapped at the time. But the UFC has been able to find talent when ever they want. So i agree with what gross said in a way. TUF isnt meaningful as far as the fighters. But it is by design not because of any failure of the show or the UFC to produce them. The UFC markets it like they are looking for the next big star but that is just to get people to tune in.
I will say this season could be different. They are doing weight class’ that is relatively untapped and they need to fill the weight class. So we will see a lot of they guys be mainstays in the UFC for a while. But the UFC didnt have room to keep everyone in past seasons like they did in the first season. That is the main reason i think they decreased the talent on the shows.
3rd best rating in 18-49 demo at 1.0 (men+women) on Wednesday cable shows, but only 13th in total viewers. AHS on FX had the highest 18-49 rating at 1.7 with 2.85M viewers. ABC only had a 1.2 in the demo.
I think Spike will miss TUF more than they realized early on in the negotiations. I wonder what number Dana would have accepted to just extend back in 2010, moving from $35MM/yr to what $50-$55 million?
A nice way to end the series on Spike. It was good to see the show do well this season and this is really due to how the fighters put the effort into it.
I feel sorry for Bisping. It’s Miller’s time.
You mean ratings went up in a “saturated” market? That’s just crazy talk!
“You mean ratings went up in a “saturated” market? That’s just crazy talk!”
Too bad the season high is lower that TUF 12’s season high and the averages are also lower.
http://mmajunkie.com/news/21456/the-ultimate-fighter-12-episode-no-10-ratings-steady-with-1-8-million-viewers.mma
Not to mention 1.7 million is what TUF got back in 2005 on the first episode when they were following WWE and the show was brand new AND showing at 11 PM.