MMAPayout will be covering in detail the FOX – UFC TV deal, quarterly and weekly, in order to analyze the performance of both properties throughout the lifespan of the TV deal. In this week’s edition, we will be looking at the UFC on FOX sports network ratings for the week of 11/4 – 11/10.
UFC on Fox Sports 1 Wednesday Night Block (11/6):
– Ultimate Fight Night: Fight For the Troops Prelims: 250,000 viewers
– Ultimate Fight Night: Fight For the Troops: 641,000 viewers
– The Ultimate Fighter (new episode): 583,000 viewers
UFC on Fox Sports 1 Saturday (11/9):
– Ultimate Fight Night: Belfort vs Henderson: 722,000 viewers.
Other Key Programming Notes (Fox Sports 2):
– Live Weigh-ins (11/8) for UFN: Belfort vs Henderson event on FS2 drew 7,000 viewers.
– Post Fight (11/8) for UFN: Belfort vs Henderson event on FS2 drew 17,000 viewers.
– Live Weigh-ins (11/5) for UFN: Fight For Troops: Kennedy vs Natal event on FS2 drew 2,000 viewers.
– Post Fight (11/5) for UFN: Fight For Troops: Kennedy vs Natal event on FS2 drew 11,000 viewers.
Fox Sports 1 & 2 Weekly Totals:
– Fox Sports 1 Primetime Viewership: 630,000 (FS1 record)
– Fox Sports 2 Primetime Viewership: 16,000
Ratings provided by Nielsen TV Ratings & Fox Sports.
Payout Perspective:
Last week was Fox Sports 1’s most successful week yet in terms of viewership numbers. For one, it finally aired programming that dethroned the UFC on FS1 Shogun vs Sonnen debut on 8/17, which drew 1.782M viewers. Thursday nights game between Oklahoma and Baylor drew an amazing 2.11M viewers on Fox Sports 1. Due to the high viewership numbers for College Football, NASCAR (602,000 high for the week), and airing two UFC events in one week (not including TUF), it all led to Fox Sports 1 celebrating it’s most successful primetime viewership so far in its short lifespan.
Those ratings for the football game are what is going to be key for the network and the UFC imo. They game brought a lot of new people to the network. How many comeback to the network after that game? We will never really know. But it could be why the UFC ratings for the live events and TUF took an up swing. More games like that and more Nascar races and other sports is going to effect everyone on the network
BS,
The problem with that is that these are sports and specific games that do really well. FS1 probably aired their best two games of the CFB season already. They may have one or two more to go, but fans tune in when there is a good game between high ranked teams (and ESPN and ABC have most of those scooped up for the PAC-12 and BIG-12). That’s why it’s so hard for sport networks to consistently do well. Once they get on a roll, the season will be over. Then what? They will have to move to CBB and eventually MLB. UFC’s non-season schedule helps FS1 in terms of consistency, but other sports really don’t do that.
I understand what you are saying but that isn’t what I meant. There are many people who doesn’t even know FS1 exists. A lot of them find out about it when a game like that brings in 2 million people. Granted most will tune in and move on and not remember until their team plays again on the network. But there is a group of people where the network name and channel sticks with them and they keep checking it out looking at the programs. Where as the others may never think about it again. At least until they are brought in many more times. I agree FS1 doesn’t have enough of the big names to get the first group coming in enough to effect things. But the second group end up coming back and check out other shows. More games and sports like that will bring in people the same way.
I only go to FS1 for the UFC. Because the UFC I go to the network regularly to see whats on. I have ended up checking out some of the other non UFC shows and have found some I like. Just because I come there for the UFC. I think its safe to assume some of the 2.1 million for that game could be doing the same thing. While checking out FS1 they notice a UFC event and tune in. Betting people to the network even for 1 game. Puts the brand in peoples conscious.
FOX is failing. It will never recover
FoxSports isn’t sweating the first year. Ratings will go steadily up in the next couple years as more big time sports go to FoxSports. Right now they have UFC, some college football, and Nascar Trucks (the 3rd tier of Nascar).
In 2014 they get MLB. Including some post-season games, I think.
In 2015 they get top tier Nascar, Sprint Cup races, and 2nd tier, Nationwide.
In 2015 they get the US Open golf tournament (1 of 4 majors).
NBA rights are coming up, and Fox is expected to make big run at it. We’ll see what happens.
With motorsports, Fox and NBC will have everything now that ESPN has got out of the motorsports business. Fox and NBC basically split Nascar, while NBC also will have IndyCar and Formula1.
Like UFC, the motorsports fanbase is niche (though much larger than UFC’s niche for now, and doesn’t necessarily cross-over to mainstream sports.
Dana White has talked about how he is a “fight fan” who really doesn’t follow mainstream team sports outside of Patriot NFL games. But he’ll watching boxing and mma and kickboxing and muay thai, etc. A lot of combat sports fans are like that.
Similarly a lot of motorsports fans pretty much just watch motorsports and don’t follow mainstream team sports that much (again their local NFL team is usually the exception).
And the converse is also true, a lot of the mainstream sports fans don’t follow motorsports or combat sports.
For now, FoxSports is building off mostly off two strong niche sports – UFC and Nascar. And Nascar is a much larger niche at this time. UFC Fight Night and Nascar Trucks are getting similar ratings on FS1. And the Trucks are only Nascar’s 3rd tier series. Which is really getting down to the hardcore Nascar fan who will watch almost anything that Nascar airs.
For those unfamiliar, Nascar runs 3 national series – Sprint, Nationwide, and Trucks. For example, this weekend is the finale for all 3 series in Miami (Homestead). The Trucks raced Friday night. The Nationwide guys race on Saturday. And the Sprint Cup top tier guys race on Sunday.
Nascar also runs several of their own regional feeder series as well as multiple international series — Nascar Canada, Nascar Mexico, and the Nascar Euroseries.
The Nascar Mexico series has been surprisingly successful and led to a boom in Nascar-style track construction in Mexico in the last decade. The Canada series is also doing well. The Euroseries is brand new and in the heart of F1 territory. We’ll see, they at least get points for being ballsy.
Every big time sports league faces similar issues of international expansion and feeder series, just like UFC. Everybody wants to be #1 on the planet.
UFC is an individual sport. Like golf and tennis. And like motorsports.
Awful numbers, can’t spin it.
Hey Jose, ever find out what the replays for the London Machida-Munoz event did on FS2? I know it initially did like 110k, but I was thinkin the replays probably pushed it to 200k.
2000 viewers?! Might as well be zero!