MMA Junkie reports that the third episode of The Ultimate Fighter 16 ratings dipped again to an average of 775,000 viewers. TV By Numbers indicates that this past Friday’s episode scored a 0.5 rating for viewers 18-49.
TUF 16 Episode 1: 947,000
TUF 16 Episode 2: 872,000
TUF 16 Episode 3: 775,000
Payout Perspective:
This week’s ratings reflect an 18% decrease in the ratings since its debut. The spiraling ratings reflect a lack of interest in this season and it’s unfortunate that there may not be a floor to its ratings.
Jake says
“It was a HOME RUN for FX” – Uncle Dana
Sampson Simpson says
Waits for idiot Brainsmasher to cite the “key demographics” ratings SMASH!
Hahahahahahaha!
Sinking ship I tell ya.
What’s next? 600k, 500k, then CHOP
Random Dude says
Weezy on September 25th, 2012 9:50 AM
“Just for the sake of holding folks accountable, is your official prediction/proclamation that:
1. The UFC will be dropped by FOX by the beginning (or end?) of 2013?
2. The UFC will be decimated as a company by the beginning (or end?) of 2013?
3. Something else.
I very well could be misunderstanding you. It’s just that, since you’re making an official prediction, I want to make sure it’s clarified so we can go back afterward and see how accurate it ends up being.”
I think this question should be turned around and asked of you and the “everything is fine with the UFC” guys rather than asking the people who think the UFC is falling…
When will Brainsmasher and the others acknowledge that leaving Spike was and always will be a bad decision? What metric should we use to say that MMA has hit it’s peak and is a niche sport?
These ratings are worse than I ever expected or imagined. I knew they shouldn’t have left Spike, but the fall is happening quicker than I would have guessed. It will be crazy if Spike & Bellator can get any kind of decent ratings once the switch happens. Can’t wait to see what happens next year…
robert says
numbers dont lie. mma has gone from being the fastest growing sport to being the fastest declining sport. tuf16 will be the last one. bet on it.
Dfdfdfd says
More reality tv and character development… less MMA fights…. Let’s try to bring in the “Jersey Shore” crowd….
Brain Smasher says
Random Turd
Leaving Spike wasnt a bad idea and i will never admit it. The UFC’s goal is to grow the sport into the biggest in the world. Sitting stagnant on Spike housing a bunch of TNA fans until Brock Lesnar leaves is not the idea of success the UFC has in mind. Fact is Lack of Brock was hurting the UFC even on Spike and it was already starting to decline a little. If the UFC would have sit on Spike and tried to add these new divisions and deal with injuries and slow star developement it would have been disasterous.
Anyone who didnt follow the UFC to Spike wasnt an MMA fan. They were a Pro Wrestling fan. Which means the UFC could not have grown the sport by just staying convienent to non sports fans to lead into. If what the UFC is doing now isnt selling with all the hardcore fight fans in the world know abot the move to FOX, and being in front of millions of more viewers on FOX compared to Spike, and the bigger marketing muscle FOX has. Then it wouldnt have sold on Spike either. The UFC could have played it safe and suffered slowly for many years. Or it can take a risk and in infront of many more people while it rebuilds.
When the UFC gets its new divisions established and its stars fighting regularly and often they will once again have success and will finally be in position to take adavantage of it on a much larger scale. Business 101 if you are not growing you are dying. FUEL has tons of potential. It can be picked up by more households or it can be placed in a lower tier and free to everyone. All of a sudden the UFC is setting on a gold mine with Fuel. Once the stars come out and make a buzz like they used to on a regular basis it will trickle down into every program. It only takes 1 fighters to go viral and cause a buzz and change things and MMA is once again the hot new thing.
Brain Smasher says
For the record i said long ago TUF was dead and it needs to be changed. Its like American Idol. Its numbers have been declining for years now(although still high) but that doesnt mean people are losing interest in “Talent Show” reality shows. Because there is a half dozen shows just like it doing well also. From Americas got talent, to Voice, X factor, etc. The UFC and FOX needs to realize there is amny ways to do the same damn thing. 16 fights 1 contract is a game or contest. Think of a different game or contest, change the name, use the big name fighters the UFC has access to and think outside the box.
Sampson Simpson says
Garbage response.
UFC is dying a faster than expected death. Pretty funny to watch.