UFC 95 Peaks With 3 Million Viewers, Draws 1.6 Rating on Spike TV

by Chris Nelson on Feb 24, 2009 3:58 PM EST Comment 25 comments

The recent Feb. 21 broadcast of "UFC 95: Sanchez vs. Stevenson," which aired via same-day tape delay this past Saturday on Spike TV, peaked with three million viewers.

The broadcast, originally slated to feature five fights (though a record total of nine actually made the broadcast), scored more viewers in the key demographics of Men 18-34 (634,000) and Men 18-49 (1.24 million) than any cable or network program during its 9 p.m. to midnight timeslot, Spike TV today announced.

The broadcast scored a 1.6 household rating and averaged 2.4 million viewers.

For comparison, here are the overall numbers from the UFC's last five Spike TV shows from Baudelaire's excellent MMA in Numbers post:

UFC Fight Night 17: Lauzon vs. Stephens - 1.3 rating; 1.7 million viewers
The Ultimate Fighter 8 Finale - 1.3 rating; 1.9 million viewers
UFC: Fight For The Troops - 1.43 rating; 2 million viewers (source)
UFC 89: Bisping vs. Leben - 1.7 rating; 2.6 million viewers
UFC Fight Night 15: Diaz vs. Neer - 1.6 rating (M 18-49 and M18-34); 1.8 million viewers (source)

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Some Of Your ?'s Are in The Article

According to the MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) ratings archives, the UFC 95 ratings were up sharply from Spike TV’s most recent broadcasts, including UFC Fight Night 17, which aired live earlier this month. The Feb. 7 two-hour broadcast scored a 1.3 rating and averaged 1.7 million viewers. Additionally, a Dec. 13 airing of The Ultimate Fighter 8 Finale earned a 1.3 rating and averaged 1.9 million viewers. UFC Fight Night 16, which Spike TV broadcast on Dec. 10, also scored a 1.3 rating with 1.9 million viewers.

In fact, UFC 95 scored Spike TV’s biggest UFC ratings since an October 2008 broadcast of “UFC 89: Bisping vs. Leben” from Birmingham, England. Like UFC 95, UFC 89 aired on same-day tape delay. The broadcast scored a household rating of 1.7 and averaged 2.6 million viewers.

by MMASuPreMaCy on Feb 24, 2009 4:06 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Updated!

Contributor Emeritus - BloodyElbow.com

by Chris Nelson on Feb 24, 2009 4:11 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I like how MMAJunkie’s “ratings archive” is an incomplete search result.

It is nothing compared to this.

I will play my game beneath the spin light.

by Eugene Schelfaut on Feb 24, 2009 4:17 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Hahaha

by MMASuPreMaCy on Feb 24, 2009 5:17 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Seems like good news. It was a great free show.

by pr0cs on Feb 24, 2009 4:12 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Shows that Diego has pull.

"My job is a decision-making job, and as a result, I make a lot of decisions." --George W. Bush, The Decider, Lancaster, Pa., Oct. 3, 2007

by lovingmma25 on Feb 24, 2009 4:25 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Not necessarily...

I mean, it could be the fact that event is a FREE UFC event. It seems like all the FREE UFC cards do better, probably because fans believe these are better cards than the Fight Nights or Finale cards. Diego may not necessarily have pull, but he likely has some draw.

Editor-in-chief of MMA-Analyst.com

by Leland Roling on Feb 24, 2009 4:39 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

The other 5 free events didn’t pull 3 million viewers, the only other free event to pull more (in the last 12 rolling month period) was Silva vs Irvin

"My job is a decision-making job, and as a result, I make a lot of decisions." --George W. Bush, The Decider, Lancaster, Pa., Oct. 3, 2007

by lovingmma25 on Feb 24, 2009 4:43 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

UFC 89 pulled 2.6 million viewers. 3 million viewers is hardly a far cry from 2.6 million. Silva on a free show should pull more, but I wouldn’t expect it on a PPV.

Editor-in-chief of MMA-Analyst.com

by Leland Roling on Feb 24, 2009 4:47 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I think the numbers were good because Diego is a draw. I also think that if he was able to fight on the UFC 90 fight card with Anderson Silva it would have pulled more buys as well.

Diego Sanchez pulls viewers just like Forrest Griffin – the Season 1 TUF alums have a huge following.

"My job is a decision-making job, and as a result, I make a lot of decisions." --George W. Bush, The Decider, Lancaster, Pa., Oct. 3, 2007

by lovingmma25 on Feb 24, 2009 4:51 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

You could be right, and I think to an extent, he draws some fans. I still think the UFC pushing a free event has more to do with the numbers than Diego Sanchez though, but I can definitely see him being at least a moderate draw.

Editor-in-chief of MMA-Analyst.com

by Leland Roling on Feb 24, 2009 4:53 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Besides BJ, Diego is currently the biggest draw at 155…

and if he becomes champ he’ll be an even bigger draw than BJ.

by mmalogic on Feb 24, 2009 6:07 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Hah, Diego.

Kenflo is probably just as big of a draw, which is not much.

by MMASuPreMaCy on Feb 24, 2009 6:45 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I think...

You’re forgetting the run Diego went on right off the show… He had great fights on free tv previously… His wars against Karo, and Nick diaz on free t.v. earned him a pretty good following after dominating the first season of TUF. He’s not tito, or chuck, but I’m sure he brings in some viewers….

by Loot on Feb 24, 2009 9:40 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Small point, not to be contentious:

The 1.6 rating referenced for UFC FN 15 is not a household rating, the rating base for the other events, it is a demographic rating (M 18-49 and M18-34). The Spike press release cited does not give an overall household rating, which would probably have been a lower number. Example, from the same release:

Following the live fight, the premiere of "The Ultimate Fighter 8″ ranked #1 in cable in M18-49 (846,000) with a 1.5 rating. Overall, the premiere earned a 1.2 household rating…

I will play my game beneath the spin light.

by Eugene Schelfaut on Feb 24, 2009 5:10 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Noted!

Contributor Emeritus - BloodyElbow.com

by Chris Nelson on Feb 24, 2009 5:11 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

: )

I will play my game beneath the spin light.

by Eugene Schelfaut on Feb 24, 2009 5:14 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

SPIKE TV only releases the numbers that make it look better, which of course can be expected.
Usually, they only release peak number of viewers and leave it vague enough for the reader to assume it was the average viewer. So yeah, you have to be careful. :)

by MMASuPreMaCy on Feb 24, 2009 5:19 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

It’s not like Spike only releases the best numbers, that one press release for fight night 15 just didn’t have it listed. I see regular Nielson numbers all the time in their press releases, it’s not like they are secret but yes all tv networks make the biggest deal about the most impressive numbers in press releases.

by who me on Feb 24, 2009 6:42 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Anybody have the old EliteXC numbers? If I were remember right, most of their shows were comparable to these.

by natyong on Feb 24, 2009 7:24 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

1st CBS show: 3.0 rating, 4.8 million viewers (source)
2nd CBS show: 1.9 rating, 2.6 million viewers (source)
3rd CBS show: 2.7 rating, 4.56 million viewers (source)

Contributor Emeritus - BloodyElbow.com

by Chris Nelson on Feb 24, 2009 7:39 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Not really comparable. 2.6 million is a terrible number for CBS.
2.6 million is an excellent number on SPIKE.

by MMASuPreMaCy on Feb 24, 2009 9:03 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs

I can compare apples to oranges if I want! Come on they are both fruit!

Their differences go much deeper than Standard cable vs Network TV show, but they were both Free MMA TV shows.

by natyong on Feb 24, 2009 11:51 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

in Canada...

Sportsnet was the only station to show the event live at 3 p.m. ET in Canada, and 97,000 viewers tuned in for it. Another 98,700 saw the replay Saturday night.