Amadi's Take
AMADI: Proof That Friday Nights Are Toxic For the UFC on FX
Oct 16, 2012 - 11:55:18 AM AMADI: Proof That Friday Nights Are Toxic For the UFC on FX

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By: Jason Amadi, MMATorch Columnist

Shortly after the UFC struck its landmark deal with Fox, it was announced that Friday nights on FX would be branded "UFC night." Since the move from Spike TV, The Ultimate Fighter, Ultimate Fighter Finale, and Ultimate Fight Night cards (now branded UFC on FX) have all been moved over to Friday nights. Every single one of those programs has seen an immediate ratings decline since that move was made.

If it were just the Ultimate Fighter, you would have to overlook the relative consistency in popularity of the first fourteen seasons, but you could make the case that the reality show had simply run its course. But it isn't just the Ultimate Fighter. All Friday night content across the board is significantly down from the UFC's halcyon days on Spike TV.

Here is a look at ratings averages for the last six seasons of the Ultimate Fighter:

TUF 10: 3.4 million
TUF 11: 1.65 million
TUF 12: 1.74 million
TUF 13: 1.3 million
TUF 14: 1.5 million
TUF Live: 1.01 million

(It should be noted that TUF 13 aired on Wednesday nights and an hour earlier than all of the other seasons. That was the Brock Lesnar-Junior dos Santos season, and because of his appeal at the time, Spike believed that he would reach a wider audience, so they moved him up an hour. While it still beats the hell out Friday nights, it obviously wasn't ideal.)

Obviously the popularity of Kimbo Slice and the super hot Rashad Evans-Rampage Jackson feud lead to the tenth season of TUF being the most watched ever. But that notwithstanding, the pattern is clear. TUF Live was the lowest rated of the fifteen seasons the show had run to that point. TUF 16 is obviously on pace to go substantially lower.

Here is a look at the Ultimate Fighter Finale ratings for the last six seasons. These events have historically done very well, and with the exception of the TUF Live finale, all of these shows took place on Saturday nights.

TUF 10 Finale: 3.7 million average (5.2 million peak)
TUF 11 Finale: 2 million average (2.4 million peak)
TUF 12 Finale: 2 million average (2.3 million peak)
TUF 13 Finale: 1.8 million average
TUF 14 Finale: 2.5 million average (3.4 million peak)
TUF Live Finale: 1 million average

The Kimbo Slice season is again the obvious outlier, but so is the TUF 14 finale. That was the first season of the Ultimate Fighter in a long time to actually have the coaches compete at the event finale. The Michael Bisping-Mayhem Miller main event was a much bigger deal than the other advertised main events for prior season, and it showed in the ratings.

That being said, it's still clear that the Friday night shows come nowhere close to the Saturday night shows. Another serious point of interest is how the Friday night shows on FX compare to the old Saturday night/mid week shows that used to air on Spike TV. These shows are usually headlined by top contenders and the UFC uses them to bolster their popularity.

Here is a look at the four "Ultimate Fight Night" type cards that aired on Spike TV in 2011 and the five cards that have aired on FX in 2012:

Ultimate Fight Night 23/UFC: Fight for the Troops: 1.85 average (2.5 million peak)
Ultimate Fight Night 24: 2.2 million average (2.5 million peak)
Ultimate Fight Night 25: 1.8M average (1.95 million peak)
UFC 138: 1.8 million (2.1 million peak)
UFC on FX 1: 1.3 million average
UFC on FX 2: 1.4 million average
UFC on FX 3: 1.1 million average
UFC on FX 4: 1.3 million average
UFC on FX 5: 1.1 million average

(It should be noted that the UFC 138 event aired on Spike TV via tape delay because it took place in England)

The first thing I'd like to point out is that the TUF 14 finale took place on December 3, 2011, while UFC on FX 1 took place on January 20, 2012. That's a loss of over a million viewers from one live TV card to another. An even better comparison would be Ultimate Fight Night 23 and UFC FX 1 events because they were both headlined by Melvin Guillard, just one year apart. One event took place on Saturday night and the other took place on Friday night. The difference in viewership is substantial.
 
Now let's take a look at the UFC's prelim performance on Saturday nights, first in 2011, then in 2012:

UFC 125: 829,000*
UFC 126: 2 million
UFC 127: 714,000*
UFC 128: 1.3 million
UFC 129: 1.5 million
UFC 130: 1.3 million
UFC 131: 1.6 million
UFC 132: 1.2 million
UFC 133: 1.4 million
UFC 134: 1.3 million
UFC 135: 1.6 million
UFC 136: 1 million
UFC 137: 1.1 million
UFC 139: 1.2 million
UFC 140: 808,000*
UFC 141: 1.8 million
UFC 142: 880K
UFC 143: 1.4 million
UFC 144: 1.5 million
UFC 145: 1.6 million
UFC 146: 1.3 million
UFC 147: 969,000
UFC 148: 1.8 million
UFC 149: 1 million
UFC 150: 974,000
UFC 152: 955,000

(It should be acknowledged that the UFC 142 preliminary fights were the first to air on FX. Also, the 2011 numbers with the asterisks are for events that aired on ION and not Spike TV.)

The 2012 numbers are relatively consistent with the 2011 numbers. UFC 148 tied the second biggest number the UFC has ever drawn for pay-per-view prelims. The only event with prelims that ever drew bigger than 148 was UFC 126.

UFC 147 is a huge outlier, as that was the lowest drawing UFC event in years, with UFC 150 just behind it. They were unusually weak offerings from the UFC, although I have no explanation for the even lower UFC 152 number. According to early estimates, the event did more pay-per-view buys than UFC 147 and 150 combined, but for whatever reason that isn't reflected in the prelim ratings.

Again though, the big takeaway here is that the only time the highs of a UFC show on FX show are in the same ballpark of the highs of a UFC show on Spike are when they take place on Saturday night.

Friday night is already a bad night for the UFC, but doubly so in today's MMA landscape. Assuming there are no more event cancellations this year, there will have been thirteen UFC pay-per-views, four UFC shows on Fox, two seasons of the Ultimate Fighter, two TUF finale shows, six UFC on FX shows and six Fuel shows. Let's go ahead and count the five Strikeforce shows that aired in 2012 as well.

Zuffa is asking for fans to spend over 25 Saturdays a year watching their product. That's obviously a bit much, but fight fans are used to Saturday nights being fight night. What's new in 2012 are the 30 Friday nights that Zuffa is now asking for.

There used to be a time where UFC fans could sit back and mindlessly put on the Ultimate Fighter after a hard day at work or school. Unfortunately, those days are over. If you want to follow Zuffa events these days, you literally have to dedicate half your Saturdays and more than half of your Friday nights to do so.

Feel free to follow me on Twitter @JasonAmadi and direct your ask the Torch questions toaskmmatorch@gmail.com