Well said…

Let me tell you why it’s not foolish from my vantage point.

The cold reality of radio and whatever meager amounts of TV I’ve done have educated me on how deeply entrenched other demographics are besides men 18-34. They are a prize, for sure, but the other demos are also important. Older men have more disposable income, radio stations are flipping all over the country to not just pop but pop that appeals mostly to women and program directors/producers are being asked to find more ways to appeal to broader audiences in shows across the country. Bigger, more important shows – shows, for example, that appeal more to a salesperson’s inclination – are the ones that get financial backing and more direct treatment from management. Men 18-34 are coveted, but alone as the sole draw of a show cannot move MMA from where it is today. Either the number of them have to explode, their purchasing power has to grow or MMA has to find a way to start keying in on other demographics.

To me, when I see golf on a Sunday doing numbers like this, it’s a fresh reminder of just how much more powerful other more respected, more entrenched demographics actually are. So if you want to say “everyone did great!”, be my guest. It’s true, after all: everyone did do well. But well relative to what? As someone trying to make it happen for themselves in this sport, I can tell you that these numbers don’t impress program directors and producers in many markets at all. They simply don’t care even if they are impressive. Why? Because they collect one demo at the expense of others. Why talk about Randy Couture on your radio show or news broadcast when you can talk about the Redskins? Why worry about MMA when Alex Ovechkin’s name can do you more good? Why bother with Strikeforce when Tiger is playing? From the producers standpoint, there is always a justifiable reason to not include MMA in their programming. And now that programming in both online content and in radio/television markets is getting hyperlocal, getting “big picture” fights from MMA to get noticed is becoming a tough deal in some parts of the country.

The trick is to find a way to change that mentality and perspective so MMA can get its due on mainstream media organs with large audiences. And as much as we don’t want to accept that, dominating in males 18-34 is not going to be the way to do it. That 12.6 million figure should not be contextualized as “good for what it was trying to do”; it should remind you that MMA’s self-congratulation about how well they get young men to watch the sport is both a blessing and a stumbling block.

Yeah, but there is still merit to comparing the two numbers with relevance to the size of the audience. You’re right that 500,000 viewers is 500,000 viewers, but… the numbers likely give Strikeforce heavily leverage with CBS now because if they can pull that type of rating on Showtime, it could be enormous on CBS. The only real problem is that CBS probably needs to find some solid fights to fill the card.

Completely agree with, but here is the problem. No one puts any emphasis on any other demo’s outside of 18-34 because that’s MMA’s bread and butter.

Showtime, CBS, and EliteXC were able to show that they had the ability to draw 18-34 as well as the older males. When Spike TV releases a PR, they can only trumpet 18-34, and as a result, there is no importance being placed in the outside demos, which CBS and Golf showed on the weekend can be a huge success.

At the moment, it appears that MMA will point out the demo’s in which we beat the NBA, MLB, etc, but like you say, MMA will need to attract other demo’s to be taken more serious.

I though it was weird that so many got wrapped up in the “My org won!” (you’re also guilty of this, btw)discussion instead of realizing both did great. That’s huge GOOD news for MMA in general.