So UFC on FOX 14 does 2.8m viewers

Welcome to our Community
Wanting to join the rest of our members? Feel free to Sign Up today.
Sign up

seekntruth

#keepladyhands
First 100
Jan 18, 2015
5,788
9,266
I Wild Each It;n7328 said:
http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/201...020-up/354877/

On FOX, UFC Fight Night scored a 1.1, up 22 percent from a 0.9 adults 18-49 rating for the most recent FOX UFC event. The 6th highest in UFC on FOX history.

So what do we take from this? UFC programming on the uptick for 2015?
I think it means, if you put full grown men in the featured fights people will watch....if you put fighters on the size of teenage girls as the features, only the hard-cores will tune in.
 

Wild

Zi Nazi
Admin
Dec 31, 2014
85,004
123,330
You don't think Demetrius Johnson would have pulled those numbers?

:wtf1:
 

Γαλάνης

The Wallabee Champ
First 100
Jan 18, 2015
3,657
4,963
Sad numbers compared to what MMA used to be at a few years ago

It's crazy that 2.5 million viewers is being celebrated.. on Fox, of all things, network TV

Just as an example, Fedor vs Rogers on CBS had nearly 6 million viewers watching the main event. Fedor had never fought on cable or network TV in the US before that fight. His biggest PPV did 100k buys.

However MMA was so hot, and promoting someone like Fedor was so easy, they turned that show into a gigantic success. Alexander Gustafson, who has been on Fox before and gave Jones his toughest fight, should be a gigantic star in the US. But as usual, the UFC would rather promote themselves than their fighters.

It's crazy to me that in 2015, Fox shows are pulling less than half, sometimes 1/3 of what Spike's big UFC shows did (Hendo vs Rampage for example). When the UFC announced they'd sign with Fox, everyone thought it was going to be so huge, and we'd have gigantic fights on TV bringing in huge ratings

Instead, they headlined most Fox shows with Mighty Mouse and Ben Henderson, two of the least liked champions at the time who were known to always go to decision in fights that are not appealing at all to the casual fan (you know, the fan you are trying to reach by being on Fox). Why in the fuck they employed that business strategy I have no idea.

It's crazy to see how things have gotten. TUF ratings doing 5-600k, FS1 shows averaging well under a million (when even the weak fight night shows on Spike did 2-3 easy), buy rates just around the brink of 100k, 2 cancelled shows in the last 2 years (with 176 being very close to cancelled as well).

It's just honestly really, really weird. Makes you wonder about the direction things are going in. It's clearly that outside of a few key people like McGregor, Rousey, Jones, etc, that the UFC can no longer generate massive numbers in ratings or buyrates. Nobody wants to pay money just to see the UFC anymore, they want to see fighters who they are emotionally invested in, who they know the backstory of - in other words, fighters they want to root for.

Nobody is going to keep paying $60 or sit in on their Saturday night to watch random fighter x VS random fighter Y in a sloppy kickboxing/sloppy wrestling match. Whatever happened to "We'll never be like boxing, where you're only paying for one big fight on the whole show. Every fight from top to bottom on our PPVs are with superstars and big name guys"?

Sorry for the rant, but yeah, looking at the downward trend of literally every aspect of the UFC in the last 3-4 years (PPV buys, tickets, ratings, everything) makes you wonder, and makes you worry. This sport looked like it had the most momentum in the world and it could only continue to grow. Why they continue watering things down I will never know, but I'm hoping they figure shit out before it becomes even more fringe. NOBODY I know, even people I've trained with, gives a shit about the UFC anymore and they will maybe watch 5-6 fights a year.
 

seekntruth

#keepladyhands
First 100
Jan 18, 2015
5,788
9,266
I Wild Each It;n7339 said:
You don't think Demetrius Johnson would have pulled those numbers?

:wtf1:
Haha.....nope. WW and up for the co-main and mains in addition it has to be match ups of known ranked fighters for high ratings on fox. There are very few guys/gals below 170 that can polarize the masses and draw imo. The BJ Penns, RR, and Conor McGregor types, and the UFC ain't put them on Fox. Save those little guy/gal title fights for co-mains on PPVs. People want to see monsters throw down! People can shit on Elitexc and Strikeforce when they were on CBS, but one thing they did right was put their biggest names on free tv to draw the numbers.
 

seekntruth

#keepladyhands
First 100
Jan 18, 2015
5,788
9,266
Galanis;n7343 said:
Sad numbers compared to what MMA used to be at a few years ago

It's crazy that 2.5 million viewers is being celebrated.. on Fox, of all things, network TV

Just as an example, Fedor vs Rogers on CBS had nearly 6 million viewers watching the main event. Fedor had never fought on cable or network TV in the US before that fight. His biggest PPV did 100k buys.

However MMA was so hot, and promoting someone like Fedor was so easy, they turned that show into a gigantic success. Alexander Gustafson, who has been on Fox before and gave Jones his toughest fight, should be a gigantic star in the US. But as usual, the UFC would rather promote themselves than their fighters.

It's crazy to me that in 2015, Fox shows are pulling less than half, sometimes 1/3 of what Spike's big UFC shows did (Hendo vs Rampage for example). When the UFC announced they'd sign with Fox, everyone thought it was going to be so huge, and we'd have gigantic fights on TV bringing in huge ratings

Instead, they headlined most Fox shows with Mighty Mouse and Ben Henderson, two of the least liked champions at the time who were known to always go to decision in fights that are not appealing at all to the casual fan (you know, the fan you are trying to reach by being on Fox). Why in the fuck they employed that business strategy I have no idea.

It's crazy to see how things have gotten. TUF ratings doing 5-600k, FS1 shows averaging well under a million (when even the weak fight night shows on Spike did 2-3 easy), buy rates just around the brink of 100k, 2 cancelled shows in the last 2 years (with 176 being very close to cancelled as well).

It's just honestly really, really weird. Makes you wonder about the direction things are going in. It's clearly that outside of a few key people like McGregor, Rousey, Jones, etc, that the UFC can no longer generate massive numbers in ratings or buyrates. Nobody wants to pay money just to see the UFC anymore, they want to see fighters who they are emotionally invested in, who they know the backstory of - in other words, fighters they want to root for.

Nobody is going to keep paying $60 or sit in on their Saturday night to watch random fighter x VS random fighter Y in a sloppy kickboxing/sloppy wrestling match. Whatever happened to "We'll never be like boxing, where you're only paying for one big fight on the whole show. Every fight from top to bottom on our PPVs are with superstars and big name guys"?

Sorry for the rant, but yeah, looking at the downward trend of literally every aspect of the UFC in the last 3-4 years (PPV buys, tickets, ratings, everything) makes you wonder, and makes you worry. This sport looked like it had the most momentum in the world and it could only continue to grow. Why they continue watering things down I will never know, but I'm hoping they figure shit out before it becomes even more fringe. NOBODY I know, even people I've trained with, gives a shit about the UFC anymore and they will maybe watch 5-6 fights a year.
And Galanis throwing down like a pimp as usual!
 

Wild

Zi Nazi
Admin
Dec 31, 2014
85,004
123,330
Galanis;n7343 said:
Sad numbers compared to what MMA used to be at a few years ago

It's crazy that 2.5 million viewers is being celebrated.. on Fox, of all things, network TV

Just as an example, Fedor vs Rogers on CBS had nearly 6 million viewers watching the main event. Fedor had never fought on cable or network TV in the US before that fight. His biggest PPV did 100k buys.

However MMA was so hot, and promoting someone like Fedor was so easy, they turned that show into a gigantic success. Alexander Gustafson, who has been on Fox before and gave Jones his toughest fight, should be a gigantic star in the US. But as usual, the UFC would rather promote themselves than their fighters.

It's crazy to me that in 2015, Fox shows are pulling less than half, sometimes 1/3 of what Spike's big UFC shows did (Hendo vs Rampage for example). When the UFC announced they'd sign with Fox, everyone thought it was going to be so huge, and we'd have gigantic fights on TV bringing in huge ratings

Instead, they headlined most Fox shows with Mighty Mouse and Ben Henderson, two of the least liked champions at the time who were known to always go to decision in fights that are not appealing at all to the casual fan (you know, the fan you are trying to reach by being on Fox). Why in the fuck they employed that business strategy I have no idea.

It's crazy to see how things have gotten. TUF ratings doing 5-600k, FS1 shows averaging well under a million (when even the weak fight night shows on Spike did 2-3 easy), buy rates just around the brink of 100k, 2 cancelled shows in the last 2 years (with 176 being very close to cancelled as well).

It's just honestly really, really weird. Makes you wonder about the direction things are going in. It's clearly that outside of a few key people like McGregor, Rousey, Jones, etc, that the UFC can no longer generate massive numbers in ratings or buyrates. Nobody wants to pay money just to see the UFC anymore, they want to see fighters who they are emotionally invested in, who they know the backstory of - in other words, fighters they want to root for.

Nobody is going to keep paying $60 or sit in on their Saturday night to watch random fighter x VS random fighter Y in a sloppy kickboxing/sloppy wrestling match. Whatever happened to "We'll never be like boxing, where you're only paying for one big fight on the whole show. Every fight from top to bottom on our PPVs are with superstars and big name guys"?

Sorry for the rant, but yeah, looking at the downward trend of literally every aspect of the UFC in the last 3-4 years (PPV buys, tickets, ratings, everything) makes you wonder, and makes you worry. This sport looked like it had the most momentum in the world and it could only continue to grow. Why they continue watering things down I will never know, but I'm hoping they figure shit out before it becomes even more fringe. NOBODY I know, even people I've trained with, gives a shit about the UFC anymore and they will maybe watch 5-6 fights a year.

You NEED to start blogging ASAP, because this is right on the money...as usual. The UFC squandered the popularity w/ casuals that came over with Brock so badly. It was there for the taking, and they blew one of the greatest opportunity in combat sports history. They had 2-3 good years to build on the mainstream popularity and revenue that Brock, GSP, and Anderson brought in, and parlay that into the promotion of future stars. Instead, they signed the FOX deal, launched World Fucking Domination, continued to promote DFW as their biggest star, spread their roster thin, and rolled out watered down card after watered down card. Looking back on things, it's almost impossible to fathom just how badly they fucked it up.
 

Calavaro

IT questions? I got your back. PM me.
First 100
Jan 18, 2015
330
405
I'm very happy UFC numbers increased. No point in crying over spoiled milk, but rather look ahead and hope numbers stay strong and improve.