Mike Coppinger of The Athletic reports that Saturday night’s UFC Fight Night featuring Colby Covington and Tyron Woodley drew “more than 1 million unique viewers on ESPN+ on Saturday.”
As Coppinger points out, the telecast happened at the same time as the NBA Eastern Conference Finals and the Stanley Cup Final. The complete event was on the digital platform.
UFC Fight Night headlined by Colby Covington-Tyrone Woodley pulled in more than 1 million unique viewers on ESPN+ on Saturday, sources tell @TheAthletic. A big number on its own, but especially considering the NBA Eastern Conference Final and Stanley Cup Final were that night
— Mike Coppinger (@MikeCoppinger) September 23, 2020
Covington stopped Woodley in the 5th round of their fight.
The Stanley Cup on NBC drew 2.1 million viewers. The NBA on ESPN drew 3.810 million viewers on Saturday night as well. Also, of note, NASCAR on NBC Sports Network drew 2.12 million viewers on Saturday night as well.
Payout Perspective:
Coppinger’s tweet infers either that the Covington-Woodley fight aired drew over 1 million unique viewers OR the overall event (main card or prelims?) drew this viewership. A unique viewer indicates a different user watched the event. Of course, this can be registered a number of ways as the view could just be 5 seconds as they are flipping through the digital platform. Or it could be that they have to be on the site for a period of time to count. Assuming that its the more positive view that people actually were watching, this is a good sign that the ESPN-UFC relationship has aided one another. Covington is a polarizing figure and his brand of bravado with a dash of Trump racism has made him someone to watch because he is a favorite or people would like to see him get punched.
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