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Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Masvidal Draws 460,000 Viewers

Gilbert Melendez connects on a right hand to Jorge Masvidal at Saturday's Strikeforce event. (Photo Credit: Tracy Lee/Yahoo! Sports)

So much for the momentum from the announcement that Strikeforce was going to keep on keepin' on in 2012. Last Saturday's event featuring Lightweight Champion Gilbert Melendez headlining and Women's Featherweight Champion Cristiane Santos in the co-main event drew 460,000 viewers, verified by industry insiders.

Of the eight non-Challengers events Strikeforce put on in 2011, Saturday's event ranked sixth in total viewership. February's event featuring Fedor Emelianenko vs. Antonio Silva led the pack with 741,000 viewers while September's show with Josh Barnett vs. Sergei Kharitonov was in the basement at 274,000 viewers.

On Saturday, Melendez took a unanimous decision win over Jorge Masvidal while Santos dispatched Hiroko Yamanaka in just 16 seconds. Strikeforce will have an opportunity to rebound on Saturday, January 7 when Middleweight Champion Luke Rockhold defends his title against Keith Jardine during a free Showtime preview weekend.

Last week, UFC President Dana White announced on a conference call that Strikeforce and Showtime have extended their partnership and will put on 6-8 events in the coming year, eliminating the Challengers series. The number has to be disappointing considering there was a strong lead-in from a major boxing match featuring Andre Ward vs. Carl Froch.

SBN coverage of Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Masvidal

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Knowing the Froch-Ward ratings would be nice in determining how strong that lead in was

Otherwise 460k is Gilberts best headlining number yet
And 2011 was a record year for SF in terms of ratings

2011 Average (Arena series)-521,375
2010-362,714
2009-389,000

by KOQ24 on Dec 20, 2011 5:21 PM EST reply actions   2 recs

You are right, and Nason is wrong.

by smoogy2 on Dec 20, 2011 5:43 PM EST up reply actions   1 recs

Or, for the meantime, we could measure it against numbers that Showtime might consider real successes:
· The season one finale of Homeland drew 1.71 million viewers at 10 p.m. and 2.03 million viewers for the night, the highest-rated finale for a freshman series in SHOWTIME history.

· Sunday’s finale shattered prior ratings benchmarks, up 58 percent above the series premiere (1.08 million viewers), delivering the series best ratings to-date.

· The series continued to build over the course of its first season, and has become SHOWTIME’s highest rated freshman series ever.

I use Homeland b/c that show is not a mainstay of the broadcaster the same way Dexter is. We may not know how, exactly, the audience feels about it yet but we can somehow extrapolate how those that have to make the decisions might do seeing how it compares to a very successful first season show.

The Internets: Where there are no girls and men become children.

by Unabomberman on Dec 20, 2011 5:51 PM EST up reply actions  

TV series are also much more expensive to produce than SFs 700k per show

by KOQ24 on Dec 20, 2011 5:58 PM EST up reply actions   2 recs

Further ancillary markets and international distribution make the series, especially successful ones like Dexter and Homeland, very profitable.

It's that the world is basically a forced labor camp from which the workers, perfectly innocent, are led forth by lottery, a few each day, to be executed.
I don't think that's just the way I see it. I think that's the way it is. Are there alternative views? Yes. Will any of them stand close scrutiny? No.

by memitim on Dec 20, 2011 6:00 PM EST via mobile up reply actions  

^This

Networks love sports programming because A.) it draws in the coveted young-male demographic, and 2.) It is MUCH, MUCH cheaper to pay for rights fees for most sports content than produce original programming with actors and sets.

by Machiel Van on Dec 20, 2011 6:05 PM EST up reply actions  

Those numbers are out of reach for Strikeforce though. A good benchmark is the 1 million viewer peak for the Fedor vs. Bigfoot fight. That’s the gold standard for MMA on Showtime for now, and it’ll probably stay that way.

by smoogy2 on Dec 20, 2011 6:23 PM EST up reply actions  

And they were doing network ad buys for that fight. They popped this number with little to no promotion at all.

It's that the world is basically a forced labor camp from which the workers, perfectly innocent, are led forth by lottery, a few each day, to be executed.
I don't think that's just the way I see it. I think that's the way it is. Are there alternative views? Yes. Will any of them stand close scrutiny? No.

by memitim on Dec 20, 2011 6:27 PM EST up reply actions  

Hence why we might be able to extrapolate their mindset.

We might see Strikeforce doing 460,000 viewers or even 274,000 viewers and it may, to them, be far from being a trainwreck given the differrence in production costs. That’s what I was trying to get at.

The numbers Strikeforce is making, in Showtime, may be just a healthy ‘ok’ for the promottion’s deal with them.

The Internets: Where there are no girls and men become children.

by Unabomberman on Dec 20, 2011 7:20 PM EST up reply actions  

However, there can be no doubt that Zuffa purchasing SF stopped the ratings momentum that they had built up, particularly with the WGP. And the “changes” made to the SF product likely mean that the high watermark of early 2011 won’t be reached again. They killed the excitement around the brand, which was probably the goal in the first place.

by smoogy2 on Dec 20, 2011 7:32 PM EST up reply actions  

But will that matter to the top execs?

They are hitting a decent number given how comparably cheap it is to produce and broadcast MMA contrary to gambling on producing and broadcasting a TV show like Homeland, Dexter, Weeds, or whatever with the expectation that it will keep doing enough business to guarantee its budget.

The Internets: Where there are no girls and men become children.

by Unabomberman on Dec 20, 2011 8:04 PM EST up reply actions  

Oh, so that person’s counterpoint is what you were getting at all along. Mindset has been extrapolated.

"He's like Elvis in Korea! They love him there." - Mike Goldberg on Denis Kang

by Bolshevik on Dec 20, 2011 11:54 PM EST up reply actions  

We're getting the numbers

Easy there, Smoogy2.

Josh Nason - MMA media for BE/WrestlingObserver/FIGHT! Magazine/WGAM

by Josh Nason on Dec 20, 2011 8:19 PM EST up reply actions  

I meant you’re wrong about the “momentum” from a press release about their contract extension. There was no momentum to speak of.

by smoogy2 on Dec 20, 2011 8:40 PM EST up reply actions  

It was a little more than a press release.

C’mon man.

Josh Nason - MMA media for BE/WrestlingObserver/FIGHT! Magazine/WGAM

by Josh Nason on Dec 20, 2011 10:43 PM EST up reply actions  

It was a downsizing. You thought abolishing the HW division and reassuring everyone their favorite stars like Mrs. Cyborg and Luke Stonecold are sticking around would translate into TV ratings?

by smoogy2 on Dec 20, 2011 10:54 PM EST up reply actions  

It's still an improvement...a little bit.

The Internets: Where there are no girls and men become children.

by Unabomberman on Dec 20, 2011 5:36 PM EST reply actions  

What was the peak? What was the boxing rating as a lead in?
I don’t understand looking at this rating negatively. There has been little to no promotion of Strikeforce cards while the deal was in limbo. I would say this is a success and a good sign for Gil.

It's that the world is basically a forced labor camp from which the workers, perfectly innocent, are led forth by lottery, a few each day, to be executed.
I don't think that's just the way I see it. I think that's the way it is. Are there alternative views? Yes. Will any of them stand close scrutiny? No.

by memitim on Dec 20, 2011 5:57 PM EST via mobile reply actions  

Is it a good sign for Gil?

I mean, there may be quite a few folks that decided to check him out for the first time and came away underwhelmed.

by BKdroid on Dec 20, 2011 6:28 PM EST up reply actions  

I guess you could say the same thing about folks who tuned into GSP’s last fight to see what all the fuss is about.

It's that the world is basically a forced labor camp from which the workers, perfectly innocent, are led forth by lottery, a few each day, to be executed.
I don't think that's just the way I see it. I think that's the way it is. Are there alternative views? Yes. Will any of them stand close scrutiny? No.

by memitim on Dec 20, 2011 7:37 PM EST via mobile up reply actions  

I want to believe that Mousasi is the one responsible for showtime drawing the viewers it did

by terzergoss on Dec 20, 2011 5:59 PM EST reply actions  

Cyborg has actually done well in ratings.

Carano-cyborg set a new record for MMA until Fedor-Bigfoot overtook them
She was on the Diaz-Zaromskis&Fedor-Werdum cards with 500&520k

Maybe Caranos fame really rubbed off on her.
Apparently she got the loudest reaction from the crowd as well on saturday

by KOQ24 on Dec 20, 2011 6:04 PM EST up reply actions  

Strikeforce was just on the brink of death and comes up with those numbers? Not bad i think

Is Bellator getting those numbers being on MTV2 a channel that you dont have to pay 14.95 for? Theres a formula for cost per viewer and SF is profitable for them too. Was there a dip in subscribers since the Zuffa purchase? I mean i know i cancelled and only reordered this last weekend.

I can't figure out how to add the twiiter follow button so here's a link -____-

by Papercut Elbow on Dec 20, 2011 6:05 PM EST reply actions  

I doubt Showtime is going to care as long as the viewership is decent. I think their main priority is keeping subscribers and sports help do that.

by discoandherpes on Dec 20, 2011 6:37 PM EST reply actions  

Something about Strikeforce LHW Champion Keith Jardine doesn’t sound right…how did he arn this shot again because the last time I remember seeing him fight was a lackluster fight with him and Mousasi that he barely won and was probably bad judging.

Or did he draw…im too lazy to google lol

by dana_whitebelt on Dec 20, 2011 6:55 PM EST reply actions  

It’s for the MW title.

by J smooth 420 on Dec 20, 2011 7:35 PM EST via mobile up reply actions  

what was the ratings for the ward fight?

by J smooth 420 on Dec 20, 2011 7:34 PM EST via mobile reply actions  

Barnett vs. Kharitonov was a much better card than this and it did truly abysmal numbers. The fact it did so terribly is confusing, and assuming both cards got similar levels of promotion Melendez must be a pretty decent draw.

"He's like Elvis in Korea! They love him there." - Mike Goldberg on Denis Kang

by Bolshevik on Dec 21, 2011 12:01 AM EST reply actions  

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