Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Masvidal Draws 460,000 Viewers
by Josh Nason on Dec 20, 2011 5:16 PM EST
in Strikeforce News
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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.
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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
I'd like to see a list that compares Strikeforce's ratings for each event with the payroll for each event.
Something tells me the rating-to-disclosed payout ratio will be all over the place.
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.
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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
Yeah and that particular show has some decent actors its not all unknowns
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by Papercut Elbow on Dec 20, 2011 5:59 PM EST up reply actions
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.
I think a show like that may have more of a demo home in showtime than MMA in does in general
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by Papercut Elbow on Dec 20, 2011 5:58 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.
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.
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.
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
We're getting the numbers
Easy there, Smoogy2.
Josh Nason - MMA media for BE/WrestlingObserver/FIGHT! Magazine/WGAM
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I meant you’re wrong about the “momentum” from a press release about their contract extension. There was no momentum to speak of.
It was a little more than a press release.
C’mon man.
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It's still an improvement...a little bit.
The Internets: Where there are no girls and men become children.
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.
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
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 -____-
Follow @GabeMadridNYC
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
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.
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