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[Sakara=Excitement]

UFC on Versus 3 Gets Worst Ratings of the Series - Bloody Elbow

by Kid Nate on Mar 7, 2011 11:02 AM EST in UFC Analysis

The ratings are in for UFC on Versus 3 which featured Diego Sanchez vs Martin Kampmann and they are not good. Fewer than 700,000 viewers tuned in to see what turned out to be a spectacular night of fights. These are the worst ratings so far for the UFC on Versus.

MMA Junkie has the details on the ratings:

Ratings for Thursday's action-packed "UFC on Versus 3: Sanchez vs. Kampmann" event slipped from the marks of the first two editions to a series-low audience of 681,000 average viewers, MMAjunkie.com (UFC blog for UFC news, UFC rumors, fighter interviews and event previews/recaps | MMAjunkie.com) today confirmed.
...
The series high came with the special's debut event in March 2010 when 1.24 million viewers tuned into the longtime home of the WEC to watch Jon Jones dismantle Brandon Vera at "UFC on Versus 1: Vera vs. Jones."

Those figures dipped slightly this past August, when an average audience of 991,000 viewers tuned in to watch "UFC on Versus 2: Jones vs. Matyushenko," in which Jones returned for a first-round TKO of longtime veteran Vladimir Matyushenko.

Zach Arnold comments:

Yesterday's UFC show on Versus drew a 0.7 cable rating. Expected, but not a great number. Especially compared to TNA drawing a goofy 1.4 rating for their dreadful wrestling show on Spike TV. Irony there given that Joe Warren, of all people, was on the telecast to plug Bellator on MTV2. The Versus shows for UFC simply aren't drawing the eyeballs like the Spike TV telecasts and even the Spike shows are stagnant right now.

I don't think UFC has plateaued by any means in terms of live business, but the TV side may be where it's going to stay the same or decline a little. With Australia proving its worth as a big-time foreign market and Canada proving to be golden, the question now becomes what to do internationally and on television in a landscape where a lot of fans Stateside are giving more fighters the thumbs down than the thumbs up in terms of paying to watch them or even watch them for ‘free' on cable. I would be remiss in forgetting to note how Strikeforce did on Showtime last month as compared to some of UFC's cable TV events.

MMA Payout adds:

It may be too early to say that UFC ratings have hit the ceiling. While TUF ratings may have declined this past cycle, we might need to wait until the next Fight Night or June's UFC on Versus to see if the ratings are the same or lower than Thursday to determine a trend.

Couple of take aways:

The UFC has become very dependent on Spike TV's promotional abilities and the UFC casual fan base is trained to look for UFC programming on Spike.

The UFC has spread their product just about as thin as they possibly can. It's no longer a novelty and they need to get serious about building a new generation of stars to replace Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture et al. The first generation of TUF alumni did pretty well, but it's clear that Forrest Griffin and Diego Sanchez are not the future.

Ratings like this can't be helping the UFC convince Comcast/NBC (the owners of Versus) to bet big on the promotion.

[mma #1 fan]

blame this on marketing

[LefthookStcrook]

The UFC has become very dependent on Spike TV's promotional abilities and the UFC casual fan base is trained to look for UFC programming on Spike.

Ab-So-Fucking-Lutey Right!

My old man and everyone I work with dont know shit about any MMA cards, unless their UFC cards on Spike or the PPVs. They keep all up to date with the PPVs and champs etc etc, but wouldnt know shit about a Versus card, or that Werdum tapped out Fedor unless I told them to tune in.

I had to tell them to watch this one on Sportsnet, and Hendo/Babalu and more.

This is the "casual fan" and this quote really hit home with me.


Whys this in Newbjack?

[Xtremo]

Well that is the UFC's fault. Because seriously, how many people have the Versus channel? I know I don't and I have a lot of channels as part of my dish package and still don't get Versus. One thing that has me baffled is that if the UFC is so big, why can't they get a television deal with a more well know television channel? They have Spike, and that is great, but why do deals with Versus or ION? Well, i guess its all good, but ONLY IF YOU HAVE THEM CHANNELS.

[Sakara=Excitement]

Originally Posted by Lefthookstcrook

Whys this in Newbjack?

Because this article was written by 'Kid Nate' and Rivethead has a major hard on for 'Kid Nate' and if you post articles by Kid Nate in the regular forum, you'll get banned.

[LefthookStcrook]

Originally Posted by Sakara=Excitement

Because this article was written by 'Kid Nate' and Rivethead has a major hard on for 'Kid Nate' and if you post articles by Kid Nate in the regular forum, you'll get banned.

WTF is this Hitler Nazis bullshit Im hearing?

Ive heard all about this "Kid Nate" fella, posting stupid shit. But theres nothing wrong with that article/post at all.

It should be in the Main forums, and would be if it wasnt written by a certain person? WTF did he do bang his mom?

Stupid.

[duffman83]

To enter a completely unrelated theory, didn't UFC on VS. 1 and 2 have Bones Jones on them? A new, exciting, heavily hyped (even then) 205 pounder is naturally going to attract more fight fans, particularly the casual fans mentioned above, than Sanchez and Kampmann. Even as someone who counts the Hitman as one of his three favorite fighters, you have to expect the change in fighters to result in a change in rating. The presence of, by my count, three or four high level televised MMA events in the near vicinity and several marquee NBA and NCAA matchups wouldn't have helped either. Overall, I'm not sure that we can say that this same card would have done better one or two years ago. Sanchez/Kampmann II, on the other hand, would probably pull a much higher rating.

[Sniggles]

Sanchez is more known than Bones Jones to the casual fanbase. Many a people will tune in to watch the Yes-man get battered.