Fuel TV sent out a press release today which touted cable’s biggest audience growth this year. The release attributes the success to the UFC and its 360 hours of UFC programming in May.
Via Fuel TV press release:
FUEL TV recorded the largest year-to-year percentage increases in prime time and total day last month (compared to May 2011) and through the first five months of this year (compared to Jan. – May 2011) in its target audience of M18-49, total viewers and households, among all rated, ad-supported cable networks in the U.S.
FUEL TV May 2012 Audience Highlights:
· May 2012 was up +171% in Total Viewers and +200% in M18-49 vs. May 2011;
· Prime time viewership grew +280% on Total Viewers and +220% among M18-49 compared to May 2011;
· UFC on FUEL TV Fight Night on May 15 (UFC ON FUEL TV: THE KOREAN ZOMBIE VS. DUSTIN POIRIER) delivered the third most-watched program in FUEL TV history;
· The show peaked at 217,000 Total Viewers from 9:30pm ET – 9:45pm ET;
· May 15 was the most-watched Tuesday ever in network history;
· May 2012 was the network’s second most-watched month ever, behind February 2012;
· For the first five months of 2012, prime time viewership is averaging an increase of +218% over 2011;
· Since January 1, the network’s total day viewership is up +125% compared to 2011;
Payout Perspective:
Its nice to see that an audience is finding Fuel and is now associating it with the UFC. One shouldn’t get too excited about the astronomical growth from year to year considering Fuel was at or near the bottom in cable ratings. Unless you were a fan of snowboarding or surfing shows, you probably weren’t watching in 2011. It also is still a fraction of the reach as Spike TV. Still, the network is increasing its viewership and if it could widen its distribution, Fuel will continue to grow.
Nothing plus 1 equals 1.
The network still averages 19,000 viewers on a good day.
And yes, that’s up from 15,000 viewers.
But how can that be a good thing for the UFC’s pay per view business?
I like your maths Marty. Here’s another one: what’s 200% growth of nothing?
It would be interesting to compare overall viewership of MMA now that there is so much content on free TV. YoY PPV comparisons are easy (if you ignore the difficulty in obtaining data) but estimating total # of MMA views on free TV YoY would be an interesting exercise for someone with some time on their hands.
Key metrics:
# of new MMA views = viewership #s for all MMA shows not including re-plays
Total # of MMA views = viewership #s for all MMA shows including re-plays
# of new MMA shows
Total # of MMA shows = # of new shows + replays (would be very difficult to get)
Average views per new show
Average views per show
I think you need to look at both categories because the huge amount of UFC content on Fuel would boost total viewership #s even though it’s just the same group of ~50k hardcore fans viewing replays of shows over and over.
I suspect the results would show that even though ratings and views are down this year on a per show basis, the number of shows and the number of replays may push total views higher than last year.
It’s very sad that the ratings for MMA shows on any other network are consistently given, but since FUEL is so pathetic the media feels the need to tout these percentage gains sans actual viewership numbers. Please just stop. Give us the ratings and leave it at that. I don’t need to see the pathetic “growth” of FUEL TV sold to me; it’s an obvious farce.
Aren’t the FUEL numbers pretty much in line with Bellator’s? Why can’t they be examined in the same manner (percentage gains along WITH overall viewership numbers)?
i think the more troubling sign for the ufc is , ratings and ppv buys keep going down.
how long has it been since they had a million seller ppv
That is what Fuel does. This article as about Fuel and their new increases which is due to the UF. If you want ratings you need to go to the appropriate article. Fuel always releases its ratings and viewers. The prelims did 165,000 viewers and peaked at like 241,000.
those are nothing to brag about those ratings it will take fuel many years to reach a broad level of viewership
True, I guess I’m nitpicking. I just think it’s amusing to tout “record growth” when it really means nothing.
“Aren’t the FUEL numbers pretty much in line with Bellator’s? Why can’t they be examined in the same manner (percentage gains along WITH overall viewership numbers)?”
Fair enough. MTV2 has had shows (“Guy Code”, for example that have averaged well over 400,000 viewers). 150,000 viewers for them is definitely a positive sign and makes for good programming, but not necessarily something worth touting via press release. Still, it’s not shabby and is a good reflection on Bellator.
FUEL, on the other hand, though available in 36,000,000 homes (a decent amount of those since the announcement of the UFC deal) has HORRENDOUS ratings historically. They were the perennial bottom-dwellers. Given that they might average in the tens of thousands of viewers typically, any show that brings in 160,000 to 200,000 average viewers is worthy (in their eyes) of feeling lots of optimism. It represents exponential growth (though their total numbers still are relatively really small on cable). What’s even more impressive to them is the ratings that the UFC library of past events yields for them. It outperforms their top shows historically by a significant margin.
I’m not one to say MMA fans should be doing cartwheels over FUEL’s exponential increases with UFC programming. I definitely think that a measured approach to analyzing these stats is best. Still, News Corp didn’t expect UFC programming to make FUEL a leader. From what I can tell it expects the UFC to help get FUEL into more homes (which will also put other FOX properties such as FOX College Sports in new homes do to the tier packaging) and to set new ratings records for the channel. Considering those expectations, things are off to a really good start in just these 5 first months of 2012. Put it this way: The proof will be in the pudding. If FOX is unhappy with their ROI they’ll not give praise and they’ll cut ties. If they are reasonably happy with the relationship, they’ll do the opposite. I’m not typically a betting man but due to what I’m hearing I definitely have a wager down in this one.
Still
Fuel doesnt release subscription numbers. It seems they did once to promote the success of the UFC. But we havent heard how any more subscribers they have got since. So with that i think their growth is very important. If it keeps rising we have to assume that they are getting more and more subscribers. Also everything on Fuel is bonus material MMA fans didnt used to get. So any number is better than zero.
Keep in mind these are Fuel press releases. Made to show the public and industry they are growing in hopes to get attention from viewers and advertisers. They are not claiming greatness because of these numbers. Anytime you are successful in bettering yourself you should be proud(especially in this day and age). Fuel should be proud of their achievement. But every network releases the same pressers. We shouldnt hate on Fuel just because they come from such low ratings.