The MMA Report reports that the UFC 164 Prelims on FS1 scored an average of 809,000 viewers. It is the lowest rated prelims for a UFC PPV since UFC 142.
Ironically, UFC 142 was the first prelim event held on FX which did 880,000 viewers.
In comparison, the prelims for UFC Fight Night 26 did 881,000 viewers. UFC Fight Night 27 last Wednesday drew 824,000 viewers. The prelims for UFC Fight Night 27 on FS2 did only 0.25 with an average of 109,000 viewers.
Payout Perspective:
The start of college football season and the lackluster names on the prelim card is the likely reason why the prelims failed to impress. Early indications according to Dave Meltzer reveal that the UFC 164 PPV buys are better than UFC 163. However, that is not saying too much considering 163 will not exceed 200K PPV buys.
Brand sell is losing steam but still has some traction. There is a super hardcore group of about 300,000-500,000 UFC fans out there.
Its gonna take some time since the network is new and its in 10 million less homes than FX.
But if they can grow that to a million or more they will be in good shape. Its gonna take time though. The real issues is gonna be Wed nights and where the bottom is for those cards. If they start sinking to 600k or something thats a major problem.
If they can keep those cards in the 800-1 mill range they will be good.
Jason, yes college football and the prelims not featuring any big names play a part in it you left out the two main reasons why numbers would be down.
New network that fans arent watching other than for UFC or some nascar/college football. But really the network isnt drawing viewers.
And the fact its in 10 million less homes than FX. So those are the two main reasons more than who is on the card or college football. UFC has had shows against college football and prelims with no big names on FX and did solid ratings.
Im not worries about the ratings right now. Its a new network and outside MMA fans. Few sports fans knows it exists. I actually expect tonights fights not to do well. The prelims sucked ass. All the fights went the distance just about and caused the event to start off poorly. Its a good thing most viewers don’t tune in for the prelims. I expect 600-700K viewers for this event.
I think the 809,000 viewers for 164 prelims is great at this point. That is in line with some of the FX prelims. Not bad for a rebranded and relocated Fuel network just a couple weeks old.
What the network needs is to get their major sports on the network. Just 1 NFL game per week would do wonders. Remember all the people who bitched because the NFL network carried a NFL game and only Direct TV subscribers could get it? Everyone wants to see it. If they out a game on. All of those sports fans will find FS1 and be aware of it from that point on and will frequent the channel. The same when you bring on other sports and their fans. Just like they are doing with the UFC. They show the events, we become away and pretty loyal. I don’t watch ESPN anymore and I am always check FS1 for my sports now.
There is always people who are already watching a network or stumble on it during a event when they were on FX. The amount of people who do that are not there anymore. So imo it is impressive the UFC is “traveling” about a million people for their product to a network off the beaten path with nothing else on it for events with low level fighters.
i think the ufc is just putting on to many watered down cards they are diluting there product, ppv sales are dropping every year , they have been on fox now for almost two years , but yet there ratings remain stagnant
Actually turd PPv sale are up and they might have the best year in PPV sales since 2010 if they close the year like expected.
So many PPV’s per year cull the core audience more and more. It becomes harder and harder to tie story lines together since this isn’t a league format.
A lot of people know about the UFC product already and it doesn’t look like the general public is all that into it. It has a definitive fan base of ex-boxing patriots and frat boys.
You forgot about the prowrestling nascar loving hicks.
Only thing about those prowrasslin and nascar luving hicks is that the UFC simply isn’t enough of consistent excitement for their lead-riddled brains.
Ufc needs to allow kicks and knees to downed opponents. a higher finishing percentage will draw in those with short attention spans. Decisions kill me too.
I do agree the UFC needs to try hard to get rules changed to allow knees to a downed opponent. Kicks on the ground are useless and not worth the risk for how little use there would be. Most fans don’t look deep into fighting. They just see the surface. But the truth like “Aint” said there is way to many decisions. Last time I checked over 50% of fights went to decision. When you realize that most of the finishes are due to blatant age or skill mismatches the percentage of decisions in legit fights is much higher. At the highest level except for HW, finishes are very rare. Unless of course there is a champ much younger than the rest of the division like Jon Jones. Finishes are also very rare at the lower weights. I was talling my friend after the Bendo loss how big that loss was. That was the first time a UFC champ has lost the belt by submission in 10 years. Adding knees will not drastically change this. But it will give a few more finishes here and there and also keep the action going in fights. Currently a missed shooting takedowns leads to a resting position because you are safe knees and out of position to be hit with anything else.
The only problem I have with knees to a downed opponent is the back of the head rule. When it was used in Pride this rule didn’t exist. typically when someone misses a takedown and gets kneed. The knees land on top of the head very close to what I consider the back of the head and what many refs might call the back. That’s without fighters ducking their head in that position hiding behind that rule just like they do now when someone takes their back.
There would have to be a ruling that all knees from that position are legal. This would force guys to keep their head up and defend and not try to abuse that rules.
Also decisions are a double edge sword. They suck when there are to many of them or they are boring. But at the same time decisions are better for the UFC at the top level in keeping stars credible. They also make for more memorable fights when exciting. There is just some about both guys walking out with their dignity that makes a fight better. Both fighters fans can remember it fondly. Chuck vs Wandy would not be such a memorable fight if one of them was KO’ed. It would have made a great highlight for the winner and his fans. But something to forget by the loser and his fans. As it was both guys walked away with more hype and an instant classic and more fights left in their career. Having to many finishes will shorten the career of the stars. No one wants that either. So you don’t want to many finishes. My only contention is when you take away mismatches with skill and age. The real decision % if likely around 70%. So when there is a good fight where both guys are good. It almost always goes the distance. I would like to see the even make up decision rate be close to 50%.
This sport really is amazing when you look at the finer details that most fans never think about. Like most fans ignore age difference for the most part in fights. Apparently they don’t realize the effects of age that isn’t obvious to the naked eye. But it is huge. When there is an age gap of 6-8 years for example. The younger guy wins like 70% of the time right off the top. That’s without factoring in anything like style of the fighters or skills.
UFC 164 saturday prelims received a rating beneath 3 Bellator Live “Beef Thursdays” events. Amazing.
” A missed shooting takedown”??? come on man… its called having your td stuffed. Maybe getting sprawled on? someone’s not too familar with the lingo.
I am very familiar with the lingo. And what I said was correct. I didn’t use sprawled on or stuffed because that is turns for takedowns in any position. I wasn’t talking about any position. I was talking about double or single leg shots out in the center of the cage away from the fence. You don’t shoot when you are using the fence. You just drop down for the legs mostly. You also don’t shoot for clinch throws or trips. So like I said my wording was accurate for what I was explaining.
You can definitely shoot when someone is against the cage. there is some give in the fence. but you cant learn that in a turbo kickboxing class at 24hr fitness. plus you weren’t even talking about trips or throws you rookie.
Shooting takedown= shot