The headline from “TV by the Numbers” this morning said it all – “‘Frosty the Snowman’ & ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’ Knock Out ‘UFC on FOX'”. TV by the Numbers reports that UFC on Fox 9 overnight ratings scored a 1.0 rating/3 share (in the adults 18-49 demo) for an average viewership of 2.41 million viewers.
A comparable event to UFC on FOX 9 is UFC on FOX 5, which also aired in Q4 last year. That event was headlined by Ben Henderson vs Nate Diaz and drew 3.41 million average viewers with a rating of 1.6 in adults 18-49.
List of UFC on FOX overnight ratings:
– UFC on FOX 1: 5.7 million average viewers, 3.1 rating in the A18-49 demo. (Q4 2011).
– UFC on FOX 2: 4.57 million average viewers, 2.2 rating in the A18-49 demo. (Q1 2012)
– UFC on FOX 3: 2.25 million average viewers, 1.0 rating in the A18-49 demo. (Q2 2012)
– UFC on FOX 4: 2.36 million average viewers, 0.9 rating in the A18-49 demo. (Q3 2012)
– UFC on FOX 5: 3.41 million average viewers, 1.6 rating in the A18-49 demo. (Q4 2012)
– UFC on FOX 6: 3.77 million average viewers, 1.7 rating in the A18-49 demo. (Q1 2013)
– UFC on FOX 7: 3.3 million average viewers, 1.6 rating in the A18-49 demo. (Q2 2013)
– UFC on FOX 8: 2.08 million average viewers, 0.9 rating in the A18-49 demo. (Q3 2013)
– UFC on FOX 9: 2.41 million average viewers, 1.0 rating in the A18-49 demo. (Q4 2013)
Payout Perspective:
The ratings were below the expected numbers for an event which was promoted during the NFL season. This rating does not include the overrun, but it was so small that it should have almost no impact to this event. The rating is an increase from UFC on FOX 8, which drew an overnight rating of 2.08 million viewers and a 0.9 in adults 18-49.
UFC on FOX 9 also lost the adults 18-49 target demo for the night to CBS, which aired Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (4.87 million, 1.4 A18-49) and Frosty the Snowman (5.22 million, 1.5 A18-49) during the same time slot.
One word… sinkingship
I’m pretty sure that’s two words.
Its too bad with Faber on the card, They watered the sport down and its showing in the ratings. Still no 167 ppv buys Geee I wonder why?????
Mighty Mouse hasn’t been a draw in any weight class he’s fought in and 125 is probably the weakest class in terms of ratings so I’m not surprised that it didn’t do as well as a title bout at 155 with a Diaz in it. I’m only surprised that people are surprised that it didn’t do as well.
Faber also is not a great draw by UFC standards. He was big by WEC standards, but hasn’t moved the needle dramatically in the UFC.
This was a good card for the hardcore fans, but there wasn’t a lot there to interest casual fans.
Can’t spin those numbers.
It’s official, Rudolph and Frosty > UFC on Fox.
Rudolph and Frosty? Are those the cartoons they have been showing for decades or are these new ones? Wow, sad in either case.
As far as who is a draw, it seems like nobody is a draw anymore, you just have guys who do slightly better numbers than others when matched up perfectly or on a stacked card.
They are going to miss GSP.
Give it up DFW and UFC…MM, and for that matter, nooo FWs will ever be headline-worthy. So STOP giving us these crap Fox cards.
^ OK, just remembered that effing Pettis had to pull out for the 12th time, thus affecting the card’s strength. Also the Brown-Condit fight was pulled, so it’s not really fair to pin this on the UFC. Still, STOP overtraining you EFFING idiots. I understand that some injuries can’t be prevented (obviously), but the UFC has like a 33 percent cancel/change rate for a fight.
Good numbers imo. Not a single fight above 155 lbs. Headliner was a 125 lb fight. The most interesting fight got canceled. Of the 9 events these ratings landed this event in the middle. I would call that pretty damn good. Especially considering this was the 1st or 2nd least appealing card of the bunch. With just the addition of the Condit/Brown fight this event would have been pushed over 3 million. Which is where the event would have been expected to be.
Lets remember that Johnson was the headliner last Fox event. So basically the numbers are up with the same headliner. How is that a negative? Also the better news for the UFC that people seem to dense to pick up. The UFC just got 2.4 million viewers on a new division that is less than 2 years old. Considering Johnson has headlined 3 times on Fox. It is easy to see that it si their plan. To get attention and build these lower divisions. Not to draw some massive tv ratings just for the sake of doing to. I think we can all agree if they were just doing for ratings. Johnson wouldn’t be their headliner. No one under 170 would ever headline if they were just going for ratings.
What I see is a typical event. Nothing bad but nothing suer great. The UFC got what it expected.
No, the #s were weak. Especially since there was so little sports competition that night.
The reason they are calling these ratings bad is that for a card that got a push by the NFL, this card has the lowest ratings. Its true that UFC on Fox 8 did lower numbers than this card but that card was aired during off season. The fact that this card was aired after the NFL, it should have done better numbers. DW can make all the excuses he wants but these ratings are bad. They are talking about Rudolph and what not hurting the ratings. Well, let me ask you this, UFCs target demo is 18-34 year olds and what 18-34 year olds do you know of that watches Rudolph or Frosty. The ratings weren’t hurt by other programming. This card just didn’t appeal to the casual fans. That’s the bottom line.
BS:
The only problem is that this past event and the upcoming one in Q1 2014 are typically their strongest ratings wise due to the NFL promotion. The two Summer events are the worst. If the next one doesn’t do great, they would have a stretch of 5 not so good ratings in a row. Being that you are on network TV deal and only getting around 2M viewers, its pretty disappointing. UFC drew better for their UFN and UFC numbered events on Spike TV.
But like you said, taking into account that the card was hammered with injuries and only lower weights were featured, there is somewhat of a positive, but there are a ton of injuries right now and a lack of PPV stars now considering GSPs leave and Pettis and Cain being gone most of 2014. I don’t see the situation getting much better for them next year in terms of quality UFC on FOX main events. I can see them featuring the womens 115 lbs division title as a headliner, etc.
Even though 5 ppl proved him wrong, BS will comeback to disagree.
“UFC” and “bad” do not exist in his vocabulary, no matter how obvious the truth is. His zuffa sun-glasses distort his vision.
Unlike you Leon I actually think for myself. No one proved anything. I guess you don’t know what that word means. The fact you even used it shows what level of intelligence you are working with.
What Jose said is true. The Fox events during the NFL season have traditionally got better numbers. And if we were talking about the January Fox event. Then there would be strong grounds to support that argument. BUt this is the December event. Those events have always showcased a MUCH stronger card. Look at Last Decemeber’s card:
Benson Henderson (c) def. Nate Diaz
Alexander Gustafsson def. Mauricio Rua
Rory MacDonald def. BJ Penn
Matt Brown def. Mike Swick
The top 3 fights on this card were better than any fight on this weeks card. So it isn’t even close to being a fair comparison. So it is true the NFL has brought big numbers. But the UFC always give them a reason to tune in in December.
Now last January they were able to draw with Johnson as a headliner. But we all know that he wasn’t responsible for the 4.2 million viewers. That card also blew away anything that was on this card. It had Rampage in his last UFC fight vs a top ranked opponent along with Anthony Pettis vs Cerrone. It had 2 fights that were better than any fight on this card. Not to mention a well known draw in Rampage.
So like I said. The UFC has never went into NFL season with this weak of a card. So it is crazy to pretend there is any evidence that they some how have declined or lost viewers. The evidence simply isn’t there.
The attention shouldn’t be on whether or not these ratings were good or bad. The ratings are what anyone would expect. The real issue here is whether or not the UFC should be using such weak cards during NFL season?
If you know you can get 4 million viewers without giving up big PPV fights. Then why leave it on the table by putting out a card like this?
The only thing I took away from these ratings is putting Mighty Mouse on last years card in front of all those viewers brought in by Rampage. Didn’t earn him any fans. He fought in front of 4.2 million people as the main event that night. Then without the support. He has dropped down to 2.4 million in Fox 8 and 9.
Its not for me to say whether this is a good move or bad move to force MM down peoples throats. Its only a bad move if you don’t realize the risk or not willing to live with the results. I think the UFC knows they were going to take a hit but are willing to accept it to grow the division. That division is here to stay. At some point there has to be some sacrifice made and investment put into promoting it. You cant have a dead division you don’t put any effort behind. As we have seen. The UFC knows this is their down time do to the FS1 rebranding. We know this because this is the time the UFC has chosen to use this time to roll out all its ventures that effect its bottom line. More global expansion, more WMMA divisions, WMMA TUF, paused Prime Time, etc. All of this is because they expect things to be slow anyway and what better time to do this? Same for pushing the 125 division. Better to do it now than when FS1 is rolling along and the UFC has a ton of momentum.
I understand what they are doing and it makes sense. Im sure they would love to not have a down time at all. BUt when the news broke they were going to be moved to FS1. I think they knew it was coming. And all indications suggest that everything is going as they expected.
It was crazy to expect 4 mill from this card just because its NFl season. If the fights didn’t matter. They would never have put a title fight on it to begin with. Clearly the fights matter and these fights were never going to do 4 million. No card like this ever has.
I personally think they could keep their plan to push the 125 division without blowing these 2 FOX events during the NFL season. I would give them the other 2 events. But I would still put on a card to go after that 4 million in Dec and Jan. But Johnson still needs to fight around that time and the UFC makes all title fights headliners. You cant really sell a PPV with him. So I also understand they don’t have many options. except put him behind another belt. Which im sure isn’t the message they want to send while trying to put credibility in the division.
lol I should have released that post as a 3 part series. Anyway, the truth is in there somewhere hahaha!
The ratings were good, but only IF, you consider this factor and that and blah blah blah seems more like excuses to me. Bottom line without 8 paragraphs to explain it:
The UFC should be using the FOX platform to increase overall viewership not only temporarily (that night), but long-term. This is the opportunity to sell/introduce all the upcoming fights including the biggest PPV card of this year! If they had stocked and loaded this card,and received 4M viewers, think about the potential PPV buys (or at least awareness) it brings with it. Putting on a card that barely does 2.5 M viewers on network TV, seems like a waste.
Shogun, Bigfoot, Wanderlai, Cung Le, Overeem, Thiago Silva, Rich Franklin, are the sort of guys that should be banging it out on FOX and bringing in the holy shit factor! to the masses.
Disagree. Someone has to promote the smaller divisions. Of not they are dead weight. Of course your simpleton idea doesn’t address this issue. Johnson has to fight and he has to headline and it can’t be a PPV. So what did u do with him?
The UFC is PURE GARBAGE.
3 years ago he didn’t Have to headline anything but since we’re in the present, I’ll focus on that. The 4 new weight classes in 3 years is a whole new can of worms on its own.
Yes, keep the Flyweight headlining, but stick some killers in there with them like Overeem, Wanderlai, and the others I mention. The highlight reels alone from guys like that would pique the casual interest.
So yes, my simpleton idea would work. Even though they’re the headline, advertise the highlights of the co-mains as drawing power and people will watch both.
To super-simplify it… throw in the Kimbo Slices with Flyweights and you’ll have a good draw consistently for network TV. You can get technique, speed, and power, all in one show.
We have already seen them do that and it doesn’t work. They got ratings but we know that single event ratings isn’t their main goal. Its to build people to do future ratings and PPV buys. They put Rampage vs Glover under Jonson. It got the 4 mill. But as we seen in Johnsons next 2 fights. It didn’t do anything for him. Putting big name big guys on the show like that just over shadows him. Doing it the way the UFC has done it the last two time he has fought. Puts him at the center of attention and people will eventually start following him as he is the only decent option on the card. The only catch is they take a slight hit in the ratings early on. Which they are perfectly willing to accept.
I will accept the UFC and team of very qualified people over your plan any day. I think it is so amusing that MMA fans always second guess everything the UFC does as if it was all planned up by a drunken Dana White.