MMA Payout has learned that last Wednesday’s 2 hour debut of The Ultimate Fighter 22 drew a DVR +3 rating of 902,000 viewers which is a 45% increase from the overnight rating.
The information, obtained from a Nielsen source, reflects an improvement from TUF 21’s debut episode this past spring and TUF 20’s debut this time last fall.
The overnight (that is “Live +Same Day”) rating for the first episode featuring coaches Conor McGregor and Urijah Faber drew 622,000 viewers which bested the prior 2 season.
The DVR rating is up +28% from TUF 21 (704,000 – Live+3) and +9% more than TUF 20 season (831,000 – Live+3).
Payout Perspective:
The increase stands about the same as the season average for TUF 20 (which was approximately a 277,000 viewer increase from the Live +SD rating). I would argue that the DVR rating is less important in terms of the impact it has on advertisers. As many know, DVR viewers fast forward through the ads as opposed to live viewers that must watch them. But, as you know from the show, the UFC and FS1 has found subtle ways around that to get sponsors in during the show. We will continue to monitor the ratings and see how if Conor McGregor can turn everything to gold.
Solid ratings for a show everyone is claiming is dead.
these are crap fluffed up numbers who is anybody trying to kid!
900,000 viewers after all the hype and publicity stunts is anything but impressive. I’ve seen snooker matches that drew over 2,5 million viewers without having to resort to so much over-advertising. Even TNT’s fake wrestling fights still draw about 350,000 viewers with little to almost no publicity at all.
Within the confinements of mma, Bellator has managed to draw just as many viewers as the UFC. And Bellator did it without all the gimmicks and schticks that the UFC can’t seem to do without. Every UFC event needs to be paraded and hyped to obscene proportions I can’t help but get annoyed.
TUF is just another marketing gimmick. From what I’ve seen, the number of people still buying what the UFC is selling is about 1 million. Add the occasional fans and the number is around 2 million. To put things into perspective, some boxing matches and baseball games drew over 3 and 10 million viewers respectively.
From what I’ve seen so far, almost 75% of everything the UFC sells these days is filler material. The more I see how the UFC is milking money from mma, the better I like WSOF.
TUF going strong so far.
On the other hand, the boxing reality shows barely reached a few seasons.
Not Impressed, explain to me how many dramas on FS1 have those ratings?
Bellator doesn’t do UFC numbers and they are on Spike not FS1. Difference between night and day. Far more viewers on Spike.
What boxing matches drew over 3m? The only ones that do were on network- just like the UFC has done well over 3m.
All I care about is about the number of viewers tuning in. And Bellator is pretty much on par with the UFC in terms of viewership.
Last march the Premier Boxing Championship drew 3,5 million viewers. The most hyped UFC event of the year (Gus vs Antony) drew about 2,8. After all the pre-fight circus and publicity stunts, you’d expect the UFC to draw a lot more viewers. A few years ago their number was well over 5 million. Now it barely goes over 1 million unless the event is over-advertised to death. It’s obvious that the North American audience has had enough, which explains why the UFC is trying to win new fans in Europe and Australia. Unfortunately, Europeans have a stronger immunity to promotional gimmicks, so don’t expect Europe to care too much about the UFC.
What I just can’t overlook is the fact that of all mma companies, the UFC is the only one to resort to so much over-advertising (and treat its workers so badly). Pride never went this far with the hype. Neither did Strikeforce. Bellator’s promotional gimmicks are still within the limits of common sense. Even WWE can still draw over 3.5 million viewers with less publicity but the the UFC can barely sell anything unless it resorts to its overused promotional antics. I can’t help but think that fanboyism is the only reason the UFC is still on the radar these days.
I’m estimating that TUF, as well as the UFC, will gradually lose more fans and relevance in the next couple of years and eventually fade into obscurity altogether, which is where it should have stayed.
“All I care about is about the number of viewers tuning in. And Bellator is pretty much on par with the UFC in terms of viewership.”
That’s why you are wrong for multiple reasons. 1. More people are watching the UFC on FS1 than they are Bellator on Spike. However Bellator is getting more viewers than PBC is on Spike. 2. The station means everything. FS1 has horrible viewership numbers as a whole. The only thing they are doing good numbers with are the UFC and NASCAR.
“Last march the Premier Boxing Championship drew 3,5 million viewers. The most hyped UFC event of the year (Gus vs Antony) drew about 2,8. After all the pre-fight circus and publicity stunts, you’d expect the UFC to draw a lot more viewers. A few years ago their number was well over 5 million. Now it barely goes over 1 million unless the event is over-advertised to death. It’s obvious that the North American audience has had enough, which explains why the UFC is trying to win new fans in Europe and Australia. Unfortunately, Europeans have a stronger immunity to promotional gimmicks, so don’t expect Europe to care too much about the UFC.”
Your numbers are pure fiction and your analysis is delusional. PBC’s numbers on NBC debuted at 3.4m viewers. The UFC debuted at 5.7m. The key 18-49 demo the UFC is destroying PBC in. The overall averages the UFC is destroying PBC in. The UFC has done 5 FOX shows that are higher than the best rated PBC on NBC. Gustafsson vs Johnson did 3m avg viewers and was better than several PBCs.
Also, more importantly, the UFC has a fraction of the overhead PBC has and they have tons of revenue streams to fall back on. What does PBC have other than hedgefund money that is going straight down the drain? They’ve already burned through 1/3rd of their money with nothing but poor ratings to show for.
The UFC is also drawing strong gates and ratings abroad. Go check out the ratings from that Sweden card- that fight took place at early morning and it was packed with fans and the ratings were excellent.
As for your hype comments- first off, Pride treated the fighters 10x worse than the UFC would. They would rig fights, bribe fighters, give fighters 2 weeks notice for fights very often- including big named fighters like Coleman, Henderson, etc., they alter rules in between fights like the Metzger-Sakuraba fight, allow fighters to openly use steroids, and tons of other major issues. Not to mention they sold a fraction of ppvs that the UFC does now and paid their fighters far less than the UFC does now.
Bellator is within the limits of common sense? Right that’s why they had an embarrassment of Kimbo Slice against Shamrock. A fight that had two guys that had no business even being licensed to fight shamefully duke it out in a ridiculous gimmick fight. The UFC never had something that pathetic go down.
Strikeforce had tons of nonsensical gimmicks. Remember Herschel Walker’s pathetic attempt at mma?
Its obvious you are just another boxing troll that can’t accept the fact that we are watching boxing fade into obscurity while the UFC/MMA is constantly expanding.
Actually my numbers are taken from official sources. They never mentioned anything about “debut” viewers. They only gave the overall results, which is pretty much the only thing that matters. You can debut at a billion, it really won’t matter if you lose all of your audience in the next 30 minutes.
The same sources compare the ratings of three events: the UFC’s Fight Night, Bellator 137 and World Boxing Championship. The UFC’s ratings were the worst with a 718,000 viewership peak. Bellator’s event had a 760,000 viewership peak whereas the main boxing event drew over 1,4 million viewers. This is what reliable sources tell me. Whom should I believe? You or them?
As for Bellator, whenever I read an mma news website almost 80% of all the articles are about the UFC. And at least 65-70% of everything the UFC puts out is filler material: interviews, pre-fight interviews, post-fight interviews, scripted trash talks and staged conference fights, hyped weigh-ins. Bellator’s Kimbo vs Shamrock event was never hyped to such obscene proportions like the UFC’s recent events. All I saw was a few interviews with Kimbo and Shamrock and that was pretty much it. And they were talking mostly about the fight. There was no trash talk, no personal insults, which is pretty much why I like Bellator. The fighters there are much more relaxed. No one is pretending to be the “ultimate” fighter.
Have you even seen the UFC’s store? There are at least 10 wearable items for every fighter and that’s not counting all the other merchandise and accessories. Bellator’s shop is virtually empty. You can order just a few caps and t-shirts and that’s it. There’s just no other company out there that loves money as much as the UFC.
Anyway, TUF’s second episode has drawn about 450,000 viewers. So good luck convincing anyone mma is gonna go mainstream anytime soon.
“Actually my numbers are taken from official sources. They never mentioned anything about “debut” viewers. They only gave the overall results, which is pretty much the only thing that matters. You can debut at a billion, it really won’t matter if you lose all of your audience in the next 30 minutes.”
Actually, your numbers are complete fabrications and you are making things up as you go along. PBC’s debut numbers are a joke. Also, the UFC didn’t lose its audience. They just did their biggest summer show ever. Let’s see PBC break the 3.5m viewership number like the UFC did 5 times. UFC on FOX kills PBC on NBC. Not even close.
“The same sources compare the ratings of three events: the UFC’s Fight Night, Bellator 137 and World Boxing Championship. The UFC’s ratings were the worst with a 718,000 viewership peak. Bellator’s event had a 760,000 viewership peak whereas the main boxing event drew over 1,4 million viewers. This is what reliable sources tell me. Whom should I believe? You or them?”
So, you took one event and used that as your litmus test. I’m sure there are tons of fortune 500 companies who would love to acquire your services as a statistician. Haha. The UFC’s ratings this year kill PBC on Spike. They also are better on average than Bellator. Bellator is better on average than PBC though, which is amusing because Bellator is a mid major mma promotion with a fraction of the money that PBC has. Bellator/UFC make money, PBC is over 130m in the hole.
“As for Bellator, whenever I read an mma news website almost 80% of all the articles are about the UFC. And at least 65-70% of everything the UFC puts out is filler material: interviews, pre-fight interviews, post-fight interviews, scripted trash talks and staged conference fights, hyped weigh-ins. Bellator’s Kimbo vs Shamrock event was never hyped to such obscene proportions like the UFC’s recent events. All I saw was a few interviews with Kimbo and Shamrock and that was pretty much it. And they were talking mostly about the fight. There was no trash talk, no personal insults, which is pretty much why I like Bellator. The fighters there are much more relaxed. No one is pretending to be the “ultimate” fighter.”
You obviously didn’t follow the fight very well because that was hyped out of control. It was all over Spike, every website, and even got some national press. That fight was a disgrace. It shouldn’t have ever happened because neither one of those guys belong fighting on a professional level right now- Kimbo Slice probably never should have. Plus, there was plenty of trash talk- you didn’t watch the ads, interviews, etc.
“Anyway, TUF’s second episode has drawn about 450,000 viewers. So good luck convincing anyone mma is gonna go mainstream anytime soon.”
How are boxing’s reality shows doing?
Actually “my” numbers are available to everyone and they can be easily checked in 5 minutes of less. Really, like all UFC fanboys you just can’t accept the truth. The statistics are there.
As for Kimbo vs Sham, you’re exaggerating the extent of its publicity. I visited most mma websites and except for a few articles and notices, I couldn’t find anything about that fight. It’s perfectly normal for Bellator to advertise its fights on Spike TV if it’s about the event. What’s not okay is for a company to intoxicate us with sideshows in which fighters talk about their tattoos and how they like to spend their money. Some UFC fighters actually appeared on late night shows to bash other fighters. Neither Kimbo nor Sham did anything like that. UFC’s head honchos actually talked trash about Bellator and its fighters. When was the last time Bellator’s management said anything negative about other companies?
As for boxing reality shows, no one cares about them. All boxing fans care about is the fight. And when a major boxing event is held, it draws almost more viewers than all of the UFC’s major events in that year combined.
And they were checked and proven false.
You are again lying about the Shamrock Kimbo Slice fight. The promotion for that was big. If you would like I can show you all of the articles written prior to the fight- every site has a number covering the prefight.
If all boxing fans care about is the fight, then why on Earth does anyone watch Floyd Mayweather? His fights sell the best and there were nonstop prefight hype- which was the most action involved in the fight- seeing how Mayweather runs 99% of the bout.
Also, the UFC by itself outdraws every boxing promotion combined every year.
Proven false? By whom? Those numbers were taken from respectable mma websites. Why don’t you contact them and tell them they’re wrong?
I visited multiple mma websites regularly and at no point was I being overwhelmed by articles and ads about Kimbo and Sham’s upcoming fight. Neither Kimbo nor Sham appeared on any late night show to bash other fighters and talk about stuff that was totally unrelated to fighting. You’re clearly exaggerating.
SOME boxing fans OCCASIONALLY tune in to some reality shows with their favorite boxers. But most of them don’t care. There’s nothing much to say about this, really. At the end of the day, when Mayweather and Pacquiao fight, the PPV buys go into the millions. So good luck convincing anyone the UFC is gonna overshadow boxing. Even snooker championships managed to draw over 2,5 million viewers. When was the last time any UFC event drew as many viewers? In 2010, maybe?