The UFC 199 Prelims on FS1 drew 798,000 viewers per Sports TV Ratings. The ratings reflect a slight increase from last month’s PPV.
UPDATED 6/8/16: According to Nielsen, UFC 199 ratings reflected a 7% gain over the averag of Q2 2015 PPV prelim cards on FS1 (744,00 viewers) and up 10% over last June’s UFC PPV Prelim card on FX (727,000). The UFC 199 Prelims peaked from 9:45pm-10pm with 989,000 total viewers.
The post-fight show on FS1 drew 218,000 viewers which improved over the average of post-fight shows on FS1 from this time last year. The prefight show drew 279,000 viewers.
The Prelims competed with the NHL Stanley Cup on NBC Network which drew 2.78M viewers. Ahead of the UFC Prelims was the Vargas-Salido fight on HBO which drew 833,000 subscribers to the premium network.
The prelims drew 357,000 viewers in the adult 18-49 demo. The rating is less than the 399,000 viewers that tuned in for UFC 198.
Payout Perspective:
Although there is no direct correlation between the prelims rating and the PPV buy rate, the estimate for UFC 198 was between 325-350K PPV buys. One might foresee that UFC 199 drew a little better than the 350K PPV buys.
that ppv buy seems to be the norm rather than the exception these days when it comes to ppv buys, hence why White is bringing back Lesnar, to sell PPVs. I give the UFC credit though, they are making the big fights while boxing various promoters are few and far between this year on making blockbuster PPV cards. Blame Oscar DeLaHoya for that one….
Good ratings for that boxing match