MMA Junkie reports that the UFC on FX’s debut scored 1.3 million viewers on Friday night. The prelim bouts on Fuel, which preceded the FX show, received 148,000 viewers.
In comparison, Spike TV ran UFC counterprogramming at the same time as UFC on FX which garnered an average of 700,000 viewers.
According to MMA Junkie the ratings for UFC on FX received a 1.19 average among men 18-49 and a 1.21 for men 18-34.
Payout Perspective:
If you look at it with the glass half full, there were a lot of UFC fans watching its product Friday night. But, its with the UFC’s current tv partner we are concerned with here. The numbers are lower for FX right now in comparison to recent Spike TV live programming. This may be unfair to compare considering that the UFC is in its infancy stages of its new TV deal and we have a quirky situation with Spike maintaining the UFC library. There is the other argument that the switch from Friday to Saturday may be an issue. However, this spring Friday night will be the night for MMA as Bellator sets up shop on Fridays opposite the UFC on two channels.
Based on its low attendance and gate, the ratings fall in line with the fact that this event fell victim to being an event in the midst of a blitz of bigger UFC events. We shall see how Fox markets its product on FX to ensure more viewers are directed to its Friday live events.
I think it’s very hard to look at the rating for any one event and get real meaningful data. There are just too many variables involved. One issue pointed out above is this event is between much larger events.
For me the biggest variable for this event is the name value of the fighters on the card. Just how many casuals recognized enough names on this fight card to pull them in? How do you factor in fighter’s name value on a card’s TV rating?
I think it’s still early to pass judgment. With that said, here’s my judgment: not bad for a start. The Fuel numbers represent a 10x increase over usual Fuel numbers, and considering that those fights would normally be on Facebook where they don’t bring in any sort of revenue that’s like pennies from heaven. The FX number will take some time to build up – the card did not have any big names (headlined by two guys who lost their previous fights) was on a different night, on a new network and had little promotion. 1.3 M is a solid base from which to start. I think that number will come to represent the the floor of UFC on FX ratings.
If we’re looking at the same ratings by the summer, than we may have a problem, but I doubt that will be the case. The move to Friday was definitely a factor, but what no journalists seem to be mentioning is that on Spike TV, live events were always tape delayed for the west coast, while FOX has gone with live broadcasting throughout the country. The fights ran from 6-8 pm PST, which is pretty early for a Friday “fight night”. It may take some time for viewers to adjust, or there may just be a portion of the fanbase that misses out on a few events because they either don’t want to watch them that early or are unaware they start that early.
There seemed to be a lack of UFC branding on the Fuel TV prelims and even on the Octagon (if memory serves)… I realize Fox wants this to be as much a Fox-branded deal as anything, but the lack of a UFC graphic during the FuelTV prelims really seemed odd. Just a FuelTV graphic, not even UFC on FuelTV.
Any insights or guesses into the reason?
Concessions made in the deal. FOX/FX and especially Fuel TV is using the UFC to broaden it’s reach and brand, not the other way around. Like every other network out there, ahem Strikeforce criticism for Showtime/CBS broadcasts, FOX will have final say on how the product looks and feels. The banning of guns/ammo/hunting/weapon sponsors is yet another.
I agree with you LM, no UFC branding, no Rogan or Goldie, FOX themed music, it was nearly impossible to tell it was a UFC product for casuals just skipping through channels.
The FX portion had “UFC ON FX” transitions and on a constant bug in the corner.
JamesG:
The only time UFC showed up was when it was next to FX or Feul TV. Completely absent from octogon, etc. Even the mics had Fuel TV only, etc.
From a relative perspective, the FX card ratings were a win for Fox. It outdrew what they normally showed on Friday nights.
The prior Friday, the FX movie was the 32nd ranked cable broadcast of the day with a 0.3 rating for 19-49 Live + same day DVR on total viewership of 1.043MM. (btw Spike did 0.4 and 800 thousand for their movie)
The FX card came in 8th on the night with a 0.7 in the key demo and 1.271 million total viewers. That is more than double in the key demo and about 20% in total viewer increase. Those are good for FX. Spike did not appear in the top 25 (based on key demo), not sure why but if the 700k is accurate then it declined vs their movie the prior week.
Fuel is Fuel. I like it but have not watched anything other than UFC content their so far. They have so much UFC content that casual fans will find their way there more and more. Ratings going up for UFC tonight and I love, repeat love, having the prelims on Fuel. 141k is 9x their average, plus the early old dark prelim fights now are filled with young hungry fighters looking to impress.
NUmbers referenced are from tvbythenumbers btw
Putting Facebook fights on Fuel is a win all the way around. Fighters get more exposure and hopefully more sponsorship money, Fox can grow viewership and subscriptions on a cable channel and therefore more ad revenues, the UFC gets to more views on their octagon sponsors and can better highlight up and coming fighters (although they did a great job of that already by selecting some of the prelim fights to show in the main events time permitting) and lastly, fans get more free MMA content on their TVs rather than suffering through internet streams.
Whether the rest of the deal is a win all the way around remains to be seen. I think the move to Fox is an admission by the UFC that PPVs have and will continue to stagnate if you are asking your customers to pay for multiple PPVs in a given month. Fox is a good source of revenue that allows the UFC to push content to fans for “free” (cable bills not withstanding). If the UFC increases the number of non-PPV cards, it should help increase the average # of buys per PPV. Even if it doesn’t increase the total number of buys in a year due to fewer PPV cards, the increase in average buys per PPV, along with the $100M from Fox should equate to higher revenues for the UFC. And that’s if everything stays the same, let’s not forget that being on Fox also positions the UFC for growth in total viewership which would have a multiplier effect on PPV revenues.
In the first six months of 2012 there are 5 PPVs (6 if you want to count the end of year card in 2012 instead of 2011) and 6 free shows. For comparison, in the first half of 2012 there were 7 PPVs (counting the end of year card) and 5 free shows. Based on the amount of MMA that I can get for a given cost, this Fox deal is already a success in my book. I can’t buy two PPVs per month, but buy one and get one free I can definitely do. I hope the same trend continues in the second half of the year…