MMA Payout has learned from Nielsen sources that the UFC 172 Prelims held on Saturday scored an average viewership of 750,000 viewers which is 2% off the average 765,000 of PPV prelims on FS1.
The UFC 172 Prelims which featured Joseph Benavidez versus Tim Elliott in the “main event” of the Prelim card received a 0.53 rating for adults 18-49, 0.79 for males 18-49 and a 0.57 for males 18-34.
UFC PPV Prelims on FS1 or FS2
UFC 164 809,000
UFC 165 722,000
UFC 166 628,000
UFC 167 998,000
UFC 168 1,554,000
UFC 169 933,000
UFC 170 936,000
UFC 171 305,000 (FS2)
UFC 172 750,000
Payout Perspective:
The UFC 172 Prelims went up against the NBA and NHL Playoffs but the viewership has not been this low on FS1 since UFC 166. The fights on FS1 were entertaining as they featured the Fight of the Night and two stoppages.
Sampson Simpson says
Pretty horrible… as predicted.
Im just curious how Zuffa is planning to deal with their ENORMOUS debt of $500 million. The clock is ticking… tick tock tick tock
N2 says
750K is about 1/4th of 1% of America. 0.24%.
The “hard core” fanbase in America is less than 1M people.
The ultra hardcore are those buying Fight Pass to watch the pre-prelims. Maybe 100k. Maybe.
700k is about the same # that watch Nascar qualifying — not a bad measure of Nascar hardcore fans.
Sampson Simpson says
It’s just a harsh reality that the blacks that watch MMA can’t afford the Fox Sports package. The UFC are pandering to crowds that aren’t able to afford their product.
KKK Dana says
I hate having Jon Jones as our UFC Champion.
D says
Sampson, when you bring in as much annual gross as the ufc does, it really isn’t as big of a deal as you believe.
assassin says
Pathetic ratings. They should be doing 1.5 million minimum for all prelim shows on FS1. That is if there was a reasonable fan base. They have had 9 months on FS1 and only broke 1MM 1x. Pathetic.