MMA Payout has learned that the World Series of Fighting 11 which aired last Saturday on NBC received an average viewership of 781,000 viewers. It was the first time the organization has been on the network.
WSOF Ratings 1-11 (1-10 on NBC Sports Network)
WSOF 1 – 198,000 viewers
WSOF 2 – 210,000 viewers
WSOF 3 – 201,000 viewers
WSOF 4 – 264,000 viewers
WSOF 5 – 227,000 viewers
WSOF 6 – 161,000 viewers
WSOF 7 – 94,000 viewers
WSOF 8 – 212,000 viewers
WSOF 9 – 242,000 viewers
WSOF 10 – 365,000 viewers
WSOF 11 – 781,000 viewers
Interesting to note that the biggest viewership came from males 50 years (56% of audience/0.62) and over which is not the normal demo for MMA. The audience was 69% male with a median age of 52 years of age. In the other demos it did a 0.35 in M18-49 and only 0.19 in M18-34.
Also of note, only 95% of the NBC affiliates cleared the telecast.
Payout Perspective:
Obviously, it was the largest viewership for the company although it did not do as well as similarly situated combat sports programs (i.e., boxing) in a Saturday afternoon network slot.
While this may be dated, an NBC Fight Night from December 22, 2012 scored a 1.6M viewer average for the same two hour block on NBC (1-4pm PT/4-6pm ET). An April 2013 NBC Fight Night on NBC received an average viewership of 1.2M viewers.
On December 15, 2012, a “Showtime Boxing on CBS” special airing Saturday afternoon from 1:45pm PT to 3:45pmPT/3:45pm ET to 6:45pm ET) received an average viewership of 1.5M viewers.
If we are to remain positive about WSOF, it’s a major stepping stone for the organization as a lot more people saw its product. Further, maybe its marketing department can determine how to use the info that males 50 and over watched the program (e.g., pitch ED, Low-T, Hair Loss sponsors). Maybe Jon Fitch might rethink that digital currency sponsorship with its audience skewing old.
On the flip side, the numbers did not do as well as boxing in a similar spot. The concern here is that those boxing shows were not named boxers and those December shows came with built-in excuses for it to fail (i.e., Holiday season, College Basketball, College Bowl Season). Yet, they each surpassed 1M viewers. There can be no excuse for WSOF because it was during the July 4th weekend and there was World Cup on too. Also, as Dave Meltzer pointed out on one of his podcasts, the decimation of Nick Newell by Justin Gaethje may look very bad to a casual viewer just tuning in without the knowledge of Newell’s ability.
Boxing viewership on NBC Sports 2014
January 24 143,000 viewers Curtis Stevens vs. Patrick Majewski
March 15 312,000 viewers Tomasz Adamek vs. Vyacheslav Glazkov
April 4 291,000 viewers Steve Cunningham vs. Amir Mansour
June 21 225,000 viewers Anatoliy Dudchenko vs. Nadjib Mohammedi
http://awfulannouncing.com/2014/nbcsn-and-fox-sports-ratings-buzz-june-16-22.html
Boxing viewership on NBC Sports 2013
January 19 140,000 viewers Sergey Kovalev vs. Gabriel Campillo
February 23 203,000 viewers Vyacheslav Glazkov vs. Malik Scott
June 14 201,000 viewers Bryant Jennings vs. Andrey Fedosov
August 3 209,000 viewers Eddie Chambers vs. Thabiso Mchunu Tomasz Adamek vs. Dominick Guinn
I have always said if you want to be mainstream you have to be on at mainstream times. Having fights at 10pm at night is freakin ridiculous. Not one major sport is consistantly playing that late.
I missed this event. But at my work I had a mma fan that doesnt follow on line but has watched the fights consistsntly a long time. He brought up that Newell fight a d said he dont think he shoukd be allowed to fight. I said he is a very good fighter and it wouldnt be right to tell him he isnt allowed to compete. Clearly the fight was unsettling for him. When the guy wins everyone loves the story. But he has to lose eventually and everyone acts like you are a monster. There is a reason the ufc wasnt trying to get him. To much to lose and the missing arm is to important technically in all the disiplines for him to ever beat top guys in the world.
Newell shouldn’t be fighting at all in any combat sport. one armed man in boxing? NO! one armed man in football? NO! one armed man in american football? NO! one armed man in basketball? NO! one armed man in wrestling? NO! one armed man in hockey? NO! one armed man on the police force? NO! find something else to do Newell! the UFC will never sign him anyway no matter what he does and he wont do alot in this sport especially! just imagine what Melvin Guillard would do to him in a matter of seconds! its over Newell! youre fucking done!
That’s interesting. Basically it looks like when low level boxing and low level MMA are on the same channel boxing will pull more viewers. Imagine what a typical HBO/Showtime card could pull on NBC.
BTW Adamek vs Cunningham rose to almost 4 million viewers over the course of the fight. That’s an incredible number for that slot.
Steve Cunningham vs Tomasz Adamek 2 peaked at 3.2mil viewers on NBC.
3.2mil>781k
Boxing wins again.
Wheres D?
The Gayest!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fightbusiness, you ever sit there and think before you post? Why do you think they have fights at 10pm? Have you ever heard of these things called time zones? 10pm est is 7pm PST. If they started having fights at 9 or 8pm it would be 6 or 5pm PST. They have to cater to the West coast also.
“one armed man in wrestling? NO!” – Truth, a one legged man won the NCAAs a few years ago who I would confidently put money on to pin you. And there’s a one armed guy who does (or at least used to do) BJJ at Renzo’s in NYC who I would confidently go double or nothing on to tap you out.
BS,
I agree. I don’t think Newell will ever become a champion of a decent org (UFC, Bellator or WSOF) – but if he wants to keep fighting and is competitive he should be allowed to continue.
Timer, you could imagine a lot of things. The truth is that the UFC got a network deal and Top Rank/GB, etc didn’t. Also, your analysis is off with the comparable numbers.