The debut of the UFC on ABC Saturday afternoon scored 1.22 million viewers according to Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily. The telecast aired opposite the NFL playoff game between the Green Bay Packers and Los Angeles Rams.
The NFC Divisional Playoff game started at about the same time that the main event between Max Holloway and Calvin Kattar started.
UFC on ABC 1 drew 471,000 viewers in the A18-49 demo and a household rating of 0.72.
Obviously, the NFL game on Fox which started at 1:36pm PT drew much more viewers scoring 26.499M viewers and 8.883M in the A18-49 demo with a 14.05 rating.
Payout Perspective:
A very good start for the UFC on ABC. While it did not draw astronomical numbers as it did with UFC on Fox 1 back in November 2011 when 5.7 million viewers tuned in for just one fight, the sustained viewership of over 1 million viewers is a good start. For those casual viewers tune in, they saw great fights with stoppages and Max Holloway showing how great an MMA star he is. Clearly, an afternoon start with an NFL playoff game opposite it was not the best way to start the era on network, but enough people saw the UFC that a return to network is anticipated.
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