MMA Fighting reports that the second episode of The Ultimate Fighter did 1.27 million viewers for a 0.9 rating. The ratings reflect a decrease from the season debut on FX.
According to Television By Numbers, TUF did 1.27 million viewers for a 0.7 rating in the 18-49 demo for its time slot.
TUF 17 Episode 1: 1.51 million
TUF 17 Episode 2: 1.27 million
Payout Perspective:
The numbers are better than that on Friday nights and MMA Fighting indicates that the decrease between the debut and second episode is common for the series. But, the ratings are not in line with the series’ run on Spike TV. Does anyone else feel like the ratings for the second week be better considering the UFC put two of its biggest stars as coaches?
The problem is the first episode imo turns people away every season and doesnt really count as the first episode imo. You dont really get the reality show on the first episode and it doesnt represent what the show will be like. Its basically Try-outs for the show. It didnt drag on as much as past seasons but it also didnt get really into the show.
We also cant forget that the first show was 2 hours long. As we know most UFC programming keeps gaining viewers through out the program. 2 hours gives it more time to get those numbers. One could reasonable assume that this episode, if 2 hours long, would have matched last weeks numbers.
I missed the first hour last week. So if not for the extra hour i would have missed it completely. So as much as i would like to see the number improve from last week. I dont look at this as much of a decline at all. I would love to get the quarter hour breakdown for these shows. Especially the first and last quarter hours. Those can tell a lot. How strong the lead in was. How strong word of mouth was, Was the show consistant or did it start slow with a large peak viewer?
i suspect the ratings will continue to drop until the season ends with numbers about as bad as TUF 16.
I for one did not watch episode 2. episode 1 tends to be the best with multiple fights. but also the new sappy drama filled style of the show turned me away.
dana pulled out all the stops, entertaining coaches with drama between them, hype reguarding a certain fighter and a better time slot. but i think it will still fail
It’s almost as if reality shows have a difficult time lasting 17 seasons.
Weezy hit the nail on the head IMO; it’s amazing for any reality season to last this long without completely tanking (though it was close to that point last season, and the jury’s still out), and they probably should never last this long. I’m not hesitant to admit that I’m rooting for this season to fail in the hopes that TUF will just be permanently scrapped, especially if they’d continue to use charlatan-esque coaching match-ups to sell it.
As for TUF FX vs TUF Spike, it seems extremely unlikely that TUF will ever be able garner the ratings it did on its former channel unless the UFC gets a truly larger than life personality to step in, likely on the cast-end (someone like Kimbo).
“Does anyone else feel like the ratings for the second week should(sic) be better considering the UFC put two of its biggest stars as coaches?”
Nope. A gimmick will only draw people in for so long. I’m predicting a steady decline week over week for the next few episodes, at which point it will probably hit a “floor average.”
Disagree Machiel I actually thinks this upcoming weeks episode will hold strong or go up with Hall fighting and a nasty knockout.
I think they will stay in that 1 mill plus range.
The new TUF format is kind of brutal to watch. There is way too much talking and vignettes while the fighting and training aspect has seemingly been de-emphasized. I think UFC was hoping for broader audience appeal, but they may be alienating their core fan base.
@Chris: I agree. The shaky camera thing seems like it should be some kind of spoof. I liked the fighting and training but it only appeals to a certain audience.
@MV: Corrected the typo.
If we really think of what had the series going was the heated rivalries between coaches. People tuned into Rashad-Rampage b/c they thought they were going to go each episode. That, and the show (on the side) of Kimbo Slice. My theory is that when fighters act civil, people tune out.
His bet was that Bellator would break 800k viewers tonight.
Whoops wrong article.
As much as i hate to say it because i hated when Boxing did it. They should really go the Drama route at this point in the shows history. Boxing went the Drama route because that was its only chance to appeal to a mass audience and get the ratings to took to justify netowrk TV with the Contender. The UC should do that but to a lessor extend and attract the broader audience. Hell at this point most of the care fan base dont care for the show anyway. It doesnt really make anyone care about the TUF contestants. It is really just catering to noobs who joined in late and are not 17 seasons deep like the rest of us. They need to go after more noobs and hope they brig them into the PPV mix. They really havent been able to create any stars with the show in a very long time. So they do really need to get into the fighters back story if they are going to get anyone to give a damn and follow the show or the fighter. I cant tolerate it if there isnt to much crying. The Contedner was a bitch fest and i couldnt stand it. It gets to a point where they are just trying to get woman viewers and to hell with everyone else. But i believe there can be a balance there.
“People tuned into Rashad-Rampage b/c they thought they were going to go each episode.”
I agree that this was a big cause for the show’s popularity during its peak years (that and the fact that there weren’t tons of other free opportunities to watch MMA on TV back then). But the thing is, a promotion can only go to the well so many times with that. What makes those rivalries special is that they are a break from the normal matchups (where just two athletes test their skills against each other). If every single matchup starts getting sold as a “bad blood intense rivalry”, then we begin to doubt the validity of any of them. Just some thoughts.
I agree. We saw that with the fights and scuffles at boxing press conferences and weigh ins. The first fewtimes it generated hype. After that people stopped paying attention and realized they were staged.
It’s boring to watch the dudes in the same house, riding in the same van, fighting in the same gym,.
Find a different place. Do it in a different city. Change things up.