The prelims for UFC 236 on ESPN drew 893,000 viewers according to Nielsen (via ShowBuzz Daily). The event drew 498,000 viewers in the A18-49 demo and a 0.60 share on Saturday.
The prelims featured Matt Frevola and Jalin Turner with Frevola winning an impressive unanimous decision. The event served as the pre-cursor for the first PPV on ESPN+.
Notably, this time last year, UFC held an event on Fox and drew 2,020,000 viewers for the Dustin Poirier-Justin Gaethje matchup. Ironically Poirier was in the main event for the PPV of UFC 236 as he won the interim lightweight championship.
Payout Perspective:
In my opinion, I thought that the prelims would certainly draw over 1 million viewers. The Masters, NBA and NHL Playoffs were also on at points during Saturday which may have detracted from the prelims on ESPN. The UFC on ESPN showed an increase of its viewership in the first appearances on the network. Yet, this ratings seems to be slightly disappointing considering there were two title fights and was a ESPN+ PPV.
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