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Tag: ratings

  • TNA Impact Wrestling pulls 2nd lowest viewership in show history

    The Wednesday, December 2nd, edition of TNA Impact on Destination America did its second lowest first-run audience in its history.

    Last night’s show, featuring the ninth week of the World title tournament, drew just 221,000 viewers for its 9-11 PM shows. The number was down from last week’s 234,000, and beat only the 11/18 episode (202,0000) for a first run show on Destination America. The midnight replay show did 73,000 viewers. 

    The combined two show total of 294,000 was also the second lowest in history, and only the second time the total of both airings was less than 300,000 viewers.

    The show featured Drew Galloway vs. Lashley in the main event, Jessie Godderz vs. Awesome Kong, Tigre Uno vs. Gail Kim, and Bobby Roode vs. Matt Hardy.

    Now fully in lame duck mode on Destination America, TNA is moving to POP TV in the first week of January, debuting on Tuesday, January 5th.

  • MMA Weekend Ratings: UFC down, Bellator steady, WSOF way down

    This past weekend saw televised shows from the big three MMA organizations in North America with differering results.

    UFC — 

    UFC Fight Night 78 from Mexico featuring Kelvin Gastelum vs. Neil Magny in the main event did a below average 750,000 viewers for Fox Sports One for the main card, but a well above average 732,000 viewers for the four fight prelims show that was also on FS1.

    The show wouldn’t have been expected to do a great rating with the main event, especially with Magny replacing the popular Matt Brown who was injured in the lead-in to the event. Additionally, the TUF Latin American 2 final matches were on the main card featuring 4 completely unknown fighters to the US audience since that series only aired on UFC Fight Pass in the US.

    The year to date average for UFC Fight Nights on FS 1 now stands at just under 908,000 viewers, so Saturday’s show was 17% below that average. However, that number is still 9.5% higher than the 2014 average of just under 829,000 viewers.

    Better news for UFC was the continued trend of the FS 1 prelims doing well above average. The 732,000 viewers for that show were 23% higher than the year-to-date average of 595,000 viewers. That number is also up 9.3% from the 2014 average of 544,000. The prelims bouts had an unofficial “Mexico vs the World” theme with the biggest name on that portion of the show being longtime UFC/WEC fighter Scott Jorgensen, a loser to Alejandro Perez.

    This week’s numbers was down significantly from the 903,000 viewers for UFC Fight Night 57 one year ago this weekend. That show had a much bigger main event with Frankie Edgar vs Cub Swanson. The prelims for that show were also slightly higher at 777,000 viewers with veteran Yves Edwards being the biggest name.

    Bellator —

    Bellator 146 on Spike TV was right at its year to date average for regular Friday night shows with 650,000 viewers. Headlined by Melvin Manhoef vs Hisako Kato, the show was virtually identical to the year to date average of 656,000 viewers. It was also up 19% from the most recent non-“tentpole” show in October which did 555,000 viewers. The year to date average is down 3.5% from last year’s 676,000 viewers. There is no similar show from last year to compare to as Bellator took an extended break after the Bellator 131 show with Tito Ortiz vs. Stephan Bonnar.

    WSOF —

    WSOF on NBC Sports Network did a disappointing 148,000 viewers for an event featuring a one night lightweight tournament for a title shot in 2016. The 25th show in company history had its lowest viewership total since 96,000 viewers watched WSOF Canada on Feb 21, 2014. It was their third lowest total in their run on NBC Sports Network.

    Although the show was advertised around the lightweight tourney, there was only one fight actually announced ahead of time featuring former Strikeforce fighter Jason High vs Estevan Payan. The 148,000 viewers for the show is 23% lower than the year-to-date average of 192,000. The 2015 average is down 11% from the 2014 average of 216,000 viewers.

    Despite the steady numbers for Bellator and the gradually rising UFC numbers, there has been a steady decline for World Series of Fighting that traces back to their high water point when almost a million viewers tuned in to their one and only live card on the main NBC network in July of 2014.

  • Ratings for WWE RAW disastrous, lowest in almost 20 years

    There is no way to spin the Monday, 11/23 WWE Raw ratings other than that they were a disaster.

    The show did 2.95 million viewers, more than 200,000 viewers lower than what had previously been the non-holiday low dating back to 1997 when Raw was losing badly to WCW Monday Nitro.

    Part of the reason was the NFL’s Monday night game featuring the New England Patriots vs. Buffalo Bills that did 14.26 million viewers, which is about two million more than football has been doing in recent weeks but nowhere near a record.

    It is the first time Raw averaged less than three million viewers since 1997.

    To make matters worse, this was the day after the Survivor Series event where the WWE heavyweight title changed hands, which usually would lead to at least a strong first hour. In case you needed to be reminded, Sheamus now holds the gold after cashing in his MITB briefcase against five minute champion Roman Reigns.

    The three hours were:

    • 8 p.m. 3.19 million viewers
    • 9 p.m. 2.99 million viewers
    • 10 p.m. 2.71 million viewers

    Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez discuss last night’s WWE Raw on Wrestling Observer Radio.

  • WWE RAW sees highest rating in 3 weeks

    The quarterfinals of the WWE title tournament led to an audience rise this week, up to 3.28 million viewers, up from 3.16 million last week and 3.24 million the week before.

    The Houston Texans upset of the Cincinnati Bengals going head-to-head did 12.19 million viewers, so Raw did a better number than last week against a more viewed football game.

    The pattern remained consistent with the first hour doing well, with the first half hour not against football doing the strongest, and the audience fading in the second and third hours, but not fading at the level of last week.

    The third hour was built around Roman Reigns vs. Cesaro and the controversial Paige-Charlotte contract signing.

    The three hours were:

    8 p.m. 3.54 million viewers

    9 p.m. 3.29 million viewers

    10 p.m. 3.05 million viewers

  • WOL 11/11: Raw ratings collapse, World Title tournament, Roman Reigns, more!

    Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive returns today to talk all the news in wrestling and MMA including a look at the record-low Raw ratings from Monday night, the collapse in hour three, WWE title tournament booking, Roman Reigns, your calls and emails and tons more!  A fun show as always so check it out~!  

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  • MMA weekend ratings: UFC down, Bellator up from yearly averages

    This past weekend saw televised MMA shows from both of the big 2 companies in North America.

    The higher profile show was UFC Fight Night 77 from Sao Paulo Brazil on FS 1 Saturday night, which averaged 757,000 for the six-fight main card and 609,000 viewers for the four-fight prelims show, which also aired on FS 1. The show was up against huge sports competition in the form of college football on CBS, ABC, FOX, and ESPN which did numbers varying from 1.5 million all the way up to 11 million — all airing directly against the UFC show. An episode of Saturday Night Live, hosted by Donald Trump, did that show’s highest ratings in three years and aired against the second half of this show.

    The show was down about 17.5% from the year to date average of 917,625 viewers on FS 1. The prelims show was actually up 4.4% from the year to date average of 583,083 viewers for previous Fight Night prelim shows on FS 1.

    The five most recent FS 1 Fight Nights prior to Saturday had averaged 821,000 viewers and the most recent prelims shows had averaged 525,800 viewers. This would seem to indicate that the hardcore fan base that will watch any fights is actually increasing but that casual fans weren’t terribly interested in this card.

    This was the lowest number for an FS 1 show since the 508,000 viewers on July 18th but that show aired in the afternoon from Scotland. The last time a prime time show did this low was the TUF 21 Finale on July 12th that did 691,000 viewers for a show headlined by Stephen Thompson vs Jake Ellenberger and the final matches of the TUF 21 show (which for the first time ever was not a tournament).

    An FS 1 show one year ago this weekend, Fight Night 56, headlined by Ovince St. Preux vs Shogun Rua, did 699,000 viewers with the prelims show (airing on FS 2) doing 176,000 viewers. Again, that seems to line up with the general trend of UFC viewership being up in 2015.

    Saturday’s show was headlined by Dan Henderson vs Vitor Belfort, who had fought once before on an FS 1 show also from Brazil and also on the same weekend (Nov 9, 2013). That show did 722,000 viewers, so this was up from that time with a similar level of undercard.

    *****

    The other show this past weekend was Bellator 145: With a Vengeance, which aired Friday night on Spike TV. This was the final tentpole event of the year for Bellator and did an audience of 814,000 viewers, headlined by featherweight champion Pitbull Friere vs Daniel Straus. Lightweight titleholder Will Brooks vs. Marcin Held and featured fights featuring Bobby Lashley and former lightweight champion Michael Chandler were also on the show.

    This number was slightly up from the most recent big special for Bellator, headlined by Tito Ortiz vs. light heavyweight champion Liam McGeary, a four-man light heavyweight tournament, and two Glory kickboxing fights. That September 19th event did 800,000 viewers. The average for the five Bellator tentpole events is now 1,061,400 viewers, so this show was about 23% below that average.

    Bellator has averaged 759,286 viewers per show in 2015, so this number was up 7% from that average. This is the first time that Bellator has built one of these shows around main event fighters who were essentially homegrown so in that sense it was more like a regular show. It was also in the traditional Friday night time slot while the three higher rated events took place on a Saturday.

    The Bellator per show average is up 8.1% from 2014, which averaged 702,227 viewers.

    Bellator’s first tentpole show featured Ortiz vs Stephan Bonnar in a heavily promoted grudge match. That show set a Bellator record of 1,241,000 viewers on Nov 15, 2014, which has since been broken by Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock earlier this year.

  • Ratings continue to plunge, WWE RAW 3rd hour sets new low

    The lack of star power and three hour length of WWE Raw took its toll Monday night as even with a lower-rated NFL game than in recent weeks, the 11/9 tape-delayed edition set another modern audience record low mark.

    Even on a night built around the first round of the WWE title tournament, Raw was down from last week’s 3.24 million viewers to 3.16 million this week, featuring the lowest viewed hour (hour three) in modern non-holiday history.  When the brackets for the tournament didn’t list outside stars, and the most pushed star in the tournament, Roman Reigns, had already wrestled in the first hour, interest fell greatly.

    The three hours were:

    • 8 p.m. 3.48 million viewers
    • 9 p.m. 3.18 million viewers
    • 10 p.m. 2.86 million viewers

  • WWE Raw ratings get even lower with 18-year record

    Raw set yet another 18-year low in audience last night with 3.24 million viewers, down slightly from the 3.27 million viewers for the 10/12 show.

    This show seemed to hit an audience base of about 3.18 million viewers, which is where the second hour fell to, with the Survivor Series match gimmick in the third hour actually increasing slightly over hour two. But the first two hours were way down from usual levels.

    It wasn’t the football competition, and it was without any baseball competition.  But the show didn’t have the benefit of coming the day after a PPV like last week, and had none of the big guns like John Cena, Brock Lesnar nor any special attractions.

    The Carolina Panthers vs. Indianapolis Colts game did 12.40 million viewers, which is the normal level, although it was a tight game.

    The three hours were:

    8 p.m. 3.38 million viewers

    9 p.m. 3.18 million viewers

    10 p.m. 3.19 million viewers

  • ROH sets new ratings record for Wednesday night, TNA ratings

    Ring of Honor set its all-time record last night on Destination America, doing 227,000 viewers at 11 p.m.  This blows away the previous time slot record for the promotion of 175,000 set on the 10/7 show.

    TNA last night did 266,000 viewers for the 9 p.m. show, and another 98,000 viewers for the replay.  The first showing was the third lowest for the show’s first-run, but the replay was up from usual levels, probably because the ROH show gave them a far stronger lead-in than usual.

    The ratings for Destination America are even more important now because both groups deals are coming due, with ROH’s deal up in early December. With new people in charge of the network, the long-term status of wrestling on the station is currently under evaluation.

  • Wednesday night ratings 10-21: UFC, TNA and ROH

    Ultimate Fighter last night did 585,000 viewers, putting it in third place behind the Mets-Cubs game and a preseason NBA game, when it came to sports programming last night in the time slot.

    For Destination America, TNA Impact had another weak night, doing 264,000 viewers for the first show and 63,000 for the second show, for a combined 327,000 viewers, tying last week for the third lowest since moving to the channel.

    ROH fell 24 percent going against the Mets game, doing 132,000 viewers.

    The Mets-Cubs game did 7.94 million viewers.