UFC Fight Night 98 drew 860,000 viewers on FS1 Saturday per Sports TV Ratings. The rating is almost a 25% increase from last month’s event.
It should be noted that last month’s event, UFC Fight Night 97, took place an hour later than most fight nights. This past Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 98 aired from 10:02pm to 1:33am ET and scored 498,000 viewers in the 18-49 demo.
The prelims, which preceded the main card aired from 8:00pm to 10:02pm drew 668,000 viewers and 372,000 in the adult 18-49 demo.
Per Fox Sports PR, the main card peaked with 997,000 viewers.
Payout Perspective:
The card from Mexico City had some good fights and an excellent main event. However, it was below the year average. Although it’s unlikely it made a dent into the ratings, there was the Pacquiao fight on Saturday night as well as College Football in prime time on both ABC (Nebraska-Ohio St.) and CBS (LSU-Alabama).
Not bad numbers, as the article said especially in comparison to last month. The new normal for UFC though.