David Schwarz sent along the following:
BARRY BONDS AND A-ROD STRIKE OUT AGAINST THE UFC ON SPIKE TV WITH YOUNG MEN ON JUNE 23
More Men 18-34 And 18-49 Watch The Ultimate Fighter 5
Than The Yankees-Giants on Fox on Saturday, June 23
Spike TV’s Telecast Drew More Men 18-34 And 18-49
Than All Other Television Programming In Timeslot
New York, NY, June 26, 2007 –The marquee match-up featuring baseball’s two most talked-about players, Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez, was no match for Spike TV’s telecast of the much-anticipated rematch between former UFC champions BJ Penn and Jens Pulver amongst young men on Saturday, June 23.
The Ultimate Fighter 5 finale on Spike TV drew 300,000 more Men 18-49 and 261,000 more Men 18-34 on Saturday, June 23 than the coverage of the Yankees and Giants on Fox earlier that day. In fact, during primetime, the 3-hour Spike telecast (9:00pm-Midnight) outdrew anything else on television — cable or broadcast — with Men 18-34 and 18-49.
“The reason our UFC programming consistently beats all other sports on broadcast, cable and pay tv is The Ultimate Fighter’s ability to build stars like Manny Gamburyan and Nate Diaz who resonate with our audience, stated Kevin Kay, General Manager, Spike TV.
Overall The Ultimate Fighter 5 finale reached 2.6 million people with a 3.0 rating in Men 18-34 (834,000), 2.6 rating in Men 18-49 (1.4 million), and a 2.00 HH rating. The telecast peaked with 3.4 million people at 11:30pm for the Penn-Pulver fight.
The UFC event also knocked out HBO’s boxing telecast of Ricky Hatton vs. Jose Luis Castillo which aired head-to-head that evening. Despite it being HBO’s most watched fight of the year for Men 18-34, Spike drew 153% more Men 18-34 and 106% more Men 18-49. Overall, the Spike finale drew 800,000 more total viewers.
Spike TV’s UFC ratings easily ran over competition from NASCAR on ESPN 2. The Ultimate Fighter 5 drew 393% more Men 18-34 and 195% more Men 18-49 than the live coverage of the Busch Series AT&T 250.
In the main event on Spike TV, Penn submitted Pulver in the second round of their hotly contested rematch. In the co-main event, Nate Diaz became The Ultimate Fighter 5 victor as his opponent Manny Gamburyan tapped-out in the second round with an injured shoulder.
Spike TV, the first network for men, is available in 91.6 million homes and is a division of MTV Networks. MTV Networks, a division of Viacom International Inc.
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