MMA Payout has learned from a Nielsen source that Saturday’s UFC on Fox 12 main card received a Live plus Same Day rating of 2.5 million viewers. The rating falls in line with Fox shows during the summer and is better than UFC on Fox 11’s rating this past April.
UFC on Fox 1: 5.7 million
UFC on Fox 2: 4.57 million
UFC on Fox 3: 2.25 million
UFC on Fox 4: 2.36 million
UFC on Fox 5: 3.41 million
UFC on Fox 6: 4.22 million
UFC on Fox 7: 3.3 million
UFC on Fox 8: 2.38 million
UFC on Fox 9: 2.9 million
UFC on Fox 10: 3.22 million
UFC on Fox 11: 1.98 million
UFC on Fox 12: 2.5 million
UFC on Fox 12 received a 1.5 rating and 3 share. The peak occurred during the main event overrun at 3,427,000 viewers. The event featuring Robbie Lawler defeating Matt Brown was first in all of the key demos for the organization. Men 18-34 (1.3), Men 18-48 (1.5), Men 25-54 (1.7) and Adults 18-49 (1.0).
Payout Perspective:
The ratings improved slightly from the summer event for Fox the past two years. Notably, Lawler was on the July 2013 show last year too. And, even though there was a title fight in 2013, it was Demetrious Johnson. It seemed like the Lawler-Brown fight had a little more interest. It also may have helped that the prelims were on the network as well. The prelims scored an average of 1.3 million and the audience built through the evening.
Saldathief says
That graph looks like a dying persons heart rate. lol
jesse says
it’s worth noting that UFC on Fox 11 got 2.5 million viewers but for some reason this site will refuse to mention that
D says
Sal, you would know, you geriatric.
D says
Where is Leon to spin the facts? No.1 in that key 18-49 demo verified.
john_frederickson says
these demo numbers seem crooked… Men 18-48 (1.5) Adult 18-49 (1.0) ??
LeonThePro says
Look at that graph D?! There’s nothing to spin. Please tell me the course the UFC is on. 2.5m against re runs and Dateline nbc, wow tuff competition.
At 4 times a year the UFC should be doing at least 4 m viewers by now. Shit they did 2.5 m on Spike Tv and that’s cable. That graph says it all. They got a key demo of barely any viewers. Less than 1% of America watched a special sports event on network TV.
FightBusiness says
I HATE Donna White but these are good numbers. 3.4 million peak thats about the peak any combat sports can get on network tv consistantly. There are just too many distractions out there (internet, netflix, etc). The thing is the UFC cant get these numbers consistantly. MMA has proven it will be around but its also proven it will not be anywhere close to being the biggest sport in the world. It also will never pay well. It would have happened by now. Fight Gods (Jon Jones, GSP) peak at 5 million a fight. Good fighters 400k. whoopty freakin do. Abner Mares a freakin 130 pounder just made 500k in Boxing for fighting a no one. Mayweather 55 million 🙂
Pink Pig says
Didn’t Adamek-Cunningham peak at over 4 million on NBC?
tops E says
Hahahaha….creditors wont like the graphs
tops E says
Graph
D says
Leon, thanks for acknowledging I was right….finally.
You are just pissed off they were no.1. Haha.
The FOX fights are hardly blockbuster lineups. The best you are going to get is a no.1 contender fight(which in this case really neither guy would ever win a title-Matt Brown has never even beat a top 10 fighter) or a 125lb title fight. The one time they did a big title was the first one with JDS-Cain and they killed with it doing the biggest combat sports event on tv in over a decade.
Keep trolling.
LeonThePro says
The key demo is the silver lining in a trend that showcases an overall decline in interest over the past few years.
“The one time they did a big title was the first one with JDS-Cain and they killed with it doing the biggest combat sports event on tv in over a decade.”
Wrong… the UFC failed to beat Kimbo Slice on CBS who had 1M more viewers. At this point the real question is can they get viewership back, and how? A heavyweight title won’t necessarily guarantee those ratings again… the last JDS/Cain trilogy fight was a flop by HW standards.
duck says
How did the first JDS-Cain fight get beat in the ratings by Kimbo?
The Fox show did 5.7 million with an 8.8 million peak and Kimbo’s best rating did 4.8 million with a 6.5 million peak.
Kimbo and all of the MMA shows on CBS were tape delayed on the West Coast which usually improves the ratings.
D says
“Wrong… the UFC failed to beat Kimbo Slice on CBS who had 1M more viewers”
WRONG!!
UFC on FOX 1…………………………………………………5.7m avg viewers 8.8m at peak
Kimbo Slice on CBS biggest number…………….4.85m avg viewers and his peak was 7.2m
At this point, the question is when will your bullshit lies and propaganda stop? I’m assuming never because you are a professional troll.
D says
Correction, I believe that peak was 6.5m for Kimbo, which would only further prove my argument.
D says
Also, fightbusiness you continue with your moronathon.
tops E says
I wonder how many notch lower would the rating downgrade be
LeonThePro says
If that’s the case, my bad. I was going by this:
“UFC on Fox 1 ratings draw 5.7 million, fail to top Kimbo Slice on CBS (Updated)”
http://www.mmamania.com/2011/11/13/2558629/ufc-on-fox-1-ratings-4-5-million-fail-to-top-kimbo-slice-on-cbs-mma
The UFC troll-bot still hasn’t acknowledged the abysmal direction of the graph, which is the most alarming thing.
D says
That article is not accurate. There are a variety of different sources including this website that claim the numbers were considerably higher for the UFC event.
The homosexual trolbot known as leon the amateur, refuses to acknowledge he is a paid troll who spews bullshit and tries to spin everything by lying compulsively and cherry picking stats.
Diego says
Leon,
It’s difficult to say for sure but the graph suggests that viewership is leveling off at between 2 and 2.5 million for the smaller shows and something north of that for bigger shows. The floor looks to be 2 million.
UFC on Fox 1 was a HW title fight.
UFC on Fox 2 had Rashad, Sonnen and Bisping
UFC on Fox 5 had Bendo, Nate, Shogun and BJ
UFC on Fox 6 had Rampage, Cerrone and Pettis
UFC on Fox 12 had only Lawler and Nogueira to appeal to the casual fans with name recognition
No two shows are alike. I agree that the curve trends downwards, but it doesn’t look like it will drop below 2M. We’ll see.
What is clear is that you can’t just throw anything on TV, brand it UFC and expect high ratings. Viewers are being more judicious and care about who is fighting. But we’ve seen that for a while now.