The UFC 104 Preliminary Fights On Spike TV Ratings Hold Steady

by Kelvin Hunt on Oct 27, 2009 2:53 PM EDT Comment 5 comments

Spike TV's broadcast of two preliminary card bouts from this past Saturday's "UFC 104: Machida vs. Shogun" card drew 1.4 million viewers according to a report issued today by the cable television network.

These ratings are basically the same as the ratings that the UFC 103 preliminary fights that aired on Spike TV. I'm not sure if airing these fights on Spike lead to PPV buys, but it's GREAT in my opinion. It accomplishes a couple of things:

-Fans that pay for the PPV get to see a minimum of 7 fights(2 on Spike and 5 on the PPV). However, if time permits they show 3 on Spike.

-It gives those fighters that otherwise wouldn't be seen(HW Stefan Struve) a chance to get some exposure and build the division a bit.

-Also, it should be noted that the only thing that beat these ratings for college football on ESPN. The piece from junkie states that Dana White isn't sure if they will continue to air some of the prelims on Spike prior to the PPV. Hopefully they will, may be can get an email formed and send it to the UFC to continue to air these fights...over one million viewers is pretty impressive when they feature guys that hardly anyone knows. That speaks to the power of the UFC brand.

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Exposure of lesser known fighters will also make them more marketable so I think everybody wins from this deal.

Bloody hell.

by 3PA on Oct 27, 2009 2:54 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

i hope they continue it, but dana might be saying that he’s going to pick and choose which events get freebies. obviously there are going to be events where they won’t need to do this and as much as i like dana, i know he’s not going to be that charitable. i would be shocked if 106 didn’t have freebies.

by bdw on Oct 27, 2009 4:03 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Prolly right :(

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by Kelvin Hunt on Oct 27, 2009 4:23 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

And that’s a mistake — I think the odd dollar they might collect from selling the prelims is worth alot less than the value of the exposure (which will translate into buyrates in the long run).

Bloody hell.

by 3PA on Oct 27, 2009 4:27 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

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