Fedor vs Silva Breaks Showtime Ratings Records With Over 1 Million Viewers

LA wrote:

It marketed itself and got tons of ink where MMA fans read or look, they got the Prix out there more then any SF event/fight I can remember.

If u r saying that by hosting a GP they got MMA outlets to write about them then I agree.

But I don't think their was an active marketing campairn on SF's part.

It was just a matter of hosting an event that people will talk about.

There was a lot more internet ad/banners I noticed last week. On some sites where I never have seen MMA ads as well. The whole spectacle last week in NJ with the press meetings, weigh-ins, etc., was good. Endless video interviews.

Exactly what GDP is saying is what I was seeing.

Here is the big report
http://mmapayout.com/2011/02/strikeforce-fedor-vs-silva-payout-perspective/


Strikeforce HW GP: Fedor vs Silva Payout Perspective

February 18, 2011

Welcome to another edition of Payout Perspective! This week we’ll be taking a look at the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix first event televised on Showtime and headlined by Fedor Emelianenko, as he made his long awaited return to the cage against Brazilian giant Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva.

The event took place at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey and featured 5 Heavyweight fights: Fedor Emelianenko vs. Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva, Andrei Arlovski vs. Sergei Kharitonov, Shane Del Rosario vs. Lavar Johnson, and Chad Griggs vs. Gian Villante, and Valentijn Overeem vs. Ray Sefo. The prelims were also televised by HDNet and were headlined by John Cholish vs Marc Stevens and Igor Gracie vs John Salgado.



Fighter Disclosed Payouts

Fighter payouts were not disclosed for the event.

Attendance and Gate

MMAJunkie reports that Strikeforce: Fedor vs Silva achieved an attendance of 11,287. The number stands as the second most attended event for Strikeforce in all of 2010 and so far in 2011, just trailing behind the Fedor vs Werdum event held in the same venue, which drew 11,757 spectators. MMAPayout has learned that the gate for the event broke the $1 million dollar mark, last achieved by the Fedor vs Werdum event at the HP Pavilion. This is a nice trend being set by Strikeforce but it also shows how much of a draw Fedor is, having the last two million dollar gates and attendance, and as you will read below, now owning the ratings record previously held by Gina Carano vs Cyborg Santos.

- 11,757 spectators, “Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Werdum” (June, 2010)
- 11,287 spectators, “Strikeforce: Fedor vs Silva” (February, 2011)
- 9,059 spectators, “Strikeforce: Diaz vs Cyborg” (January, 2011)
- 8,635 spectators, “Strikeforce: Houston” (August, 2010)
- 8,196 spectators, “Strikeforce: Nashville (April, 2010)
- 8,136 spectators, “Strikeforce St. Louis: Heavy Artillery” (May, 2010)
- 7,559 spectators, “Strikeforce: Diaz vs Noons II (October, 2010)
- 7,146 spectators, “Strikeforce: Henderson vs Babalu II (December, 2010)
- 7,010 spectators, “Strikeforce: Miami” (January, 2010)
- 5,259 spectators, “Strikeforce: Los Angeles” (June, 2010)

Ratings

MMAJunkie reports that Strikeforce: Fedor vs Silva averaged 741,000 viewers (2.13 rating) and peaked at 1.1 million viewers (3.2 rating) for the main event between Fedor and “Bigfoot” Silva on Showtime this past Saturday night . The average and peak numbers are the highest for any MMA event ever broadcasted on Showtime, topping the previous record held by Gina Carano vs Cris Cyborg, which averaged 576,000 viewers (2.2 rating, note that this rating is only higher because Showtime had less subscribers 18 months ago) and peaked at 856,000 (2.91). Another eye popping stat is that this event drew a higher rating than any MMA broadcast on television since December 5, 2009, when Kimbo Slice fought on Spike against Houston Alexander, and the show drew a 2.38 rating (H/T F4Wonline). Strikeforce: Fedor vs Silva also broke records with the key demographics, achieving a 2.35 rating in Males 18-34 and a 1.91 rating in Males 35-49, which is skewed more to the younger viewers, which is not typical for Showtime since a big portion of their subscriber base are older. The main event between Fedor vs Silva did a 3.55 rating in Males 18-34 and 2.83 in Males 35-49. Kimbo Slice vs Roy Nelson on Spike TV hold the all time TV ratings record, achieving a 4.26 rating and 6.1 million viewers.

MMAPayout has learned that both Strikeforce and Showtime are “extremely happy” with the numbers as it builds momentum for the rest of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament, the next taking place on April 9th on Showtime featuring Alistair Overeem vs Fabricio Werdum and Josh Barnett vs Brett Rogers.

NOTE: A key number to observe here is the peak number, which means more for Showtime because of the correlation between how many current and new subscribers are watching Strikeforce, which differs from the UFC, WEC, Bellator, and other promotions with TV deals (with non-subscription channels) which are ad and rating dependent.

- 741,000 viewers (1.1 million peak), “Strikeforce: Fedor vs Silva” (February, 2011)
- 576,000 viewers (856,000 peak), “Strikeforce: Carano vs Cyborg” (August, 2009)
- 561,000 viewers (853,000 peak), “Strikeforce: Diaz vs Cyborg” (January, 2011)
- 517,000 viewers (peak not available), “Strikeforce: Miami” (January, 2010)
- 412,000 viewers (700,000 peak), “Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Werdum” (June, 2010)
- 367,000 viewers (470,000 peak), “Strikeforce: Houston” (August, 2010)
- 350,000 viewers (509,000 peak), “Strikeforce: Diaz vs Noons II (October, 2010)
- 341,000 viewers (465,000 peak), “Strikeforce: Henderson vs Babalu II (December, 2010)
- 308,000 viewers (448,000 peak), “Strikeforce St. Louis: Heavy Artillery” (May, 2010)
- 164,000 viewers (197,000 peak), “Strikeforce: Los Angeles” (June, 2010) [Special Wednesday Show]

Storylines Coming Out of Event

Strikeforce Gets Huge Buzz From Event, Smashes TV Records, and Provides Great First Round in the Heavyweight Grand Prix

- Aside from the superb rating numbers, Strikeforce has to be thrilled how the event turned out for them this past weekend. This is now their third big show in a row (Strikeforce: Henderson vs Babalu II & Strikeforce: Diaz vs Cyborg) which produced some really memorable fights and finishes . Strikeforce is riding the momentum in 2011, holding true to the perception that they put on quality and exciting fights for the fans. Strikeforce and Showtime were thrilled with the card and the numbers it generated, and used the 1.1 million plus viewers who tuned in to effectively prop up and plug the next leg of the Heavyweight Grand Prix, which both Showtime and Strikeforce are fully supporting throughout 2011. The HW GP Opening Ceremony and the production upgrades was great to see, and hopefully it’s something that we see on a more consistent basis and will continue to improve. They are hopeful that Lenne Hardt, the original announcer from PRIDE Fighting Championship can also work some of the events in the future.

- After the event had finished, all anyone could talk about was Fedor’s shocking loss. This event lacked the big names that typically get the mainstream media’s attention, but Fedor surrounded by the intrigue of the HW Grand Prix did more than enough to lure the hardcore and the casual fans. In fact, Strikeforce Fedor vs Silva ranked in the top 10 both in Google Trends and Twitter (in multiple countries as well as worldwide). Fedor’s loss caused a heated debate between the MMA media and MMA fans, where Fedor fans were quick to defend their fighter against those who came out after the event was over and claimed that Fedor is overrated. Among those who caused controversy, UFC’s Dana White – who argued with Fedor fans throughout the night, and other famous sport personalities like Jim Rome, who both made negative statements towards Fedor. All it did was cause Fedor fans, fighters, and MMA media personnel to challenge their views. Among the notables, MMA fighters BJ Penn, Shane Carwin, Matt Mitrione, Phil Baroni, and MMA pioneer Pat Miletich were quick to defend Fedor and his status as one of he greatest champions our sport has ever had. Needless to say, the event and Fedor’s loss made this event one of those events you will remember for a very long time.

- HDNet aired the Strikeforce 2/12 New Jersey event undercard live. The prelims announcers for the bouts were Mike Schiavello and Bas Rutten, who received a ton of compliments from MMA fans and were very please with HDNet’s presentation. John Cholish and Igor Gracie made the most out of their match-ups, both looking impressive and Cholish looking like he may be ready to be featured on future Challenger events defeating his opponent by an impressive knee bar.

- Fedor was the number 1 searched item on Google for hours and Strikeforce and “Strikeforce Heavy Weight Tournament” was near the top as well. It was near the top on Twitter, Google, and many other websites. The event was so popular in Brazil, that the top 3 trends there were “Strikeforce”, “Fedor”, and “Pezao” the entire evening on until the next day. Even the station that televised the event in Brazil and Latin America, “HBO Plus” was a top 10 trend.

- Strikeforce and CEO Scott Coker featured on Bloomberg – Scott Coker, chief executive officer of Strikeforce, talks about the mixed martial arts promoter’s revenue and profitability outlook. Coker speaks with Michele Steele on Bloomberg Television’s “InsideTrack.”

- HW fighters made it no secret they were pumped to see the HW Grand Prix: Shane Carwin: I am looking forward to the HWT Grand Prix tonight. Go Fedor! Roy Nelson: Getting ready to watch the Strikeforce Hwy tournament.

- After the event concluded, it was front-paged and made the lead-story on ESPN, now the second event in a row to do so, which is a first for Strikeforce. Showtime: Check out the main page of ESPN.com! This is becoming a regular thing for @Strikeforce… http://yfrog.com/gyhgyfrj



- Showtime Posts Strikeforce Fan Video, Making Strives At Connecting with Fans.


- MMAPayout reader, Diego, was on scene for the event and shared his thoughts and observations here on MMAPayout:
11k+ in attendance and Fedor was hugely popular. Of big events I’ve only been to UFC 111 and this one, but Fedor got a huge pop when he was introduced at the beginning and the place went ballistic when he got in the cage. He got a louder reaction, by far, than any other fighter (out of the two cards I’ve seen live).
…
A lot of Fedor shirts were being worn, and a lot of Russian being spoken. (It was hilarious that when Silva was in half-guard and looking to pass about 20 Russian guys behind me were chanting “stand them up”.)… it seemed like half of Brighton beach showed up to watch him. I speak enough barroom Russian to know the ringside doctor who stopped the fight should avoid any Russian restaurants for the near future.

- One of the things that I have noticed as of late is the great job Strikeforce and Showtime are doing to convey a story within the fights. Cris Cyborg did so last week as she sat at cage-side watching her husband battle Nick Diaz for the belt. This time around, Fedor vs Silva produced such a great fight and story, that pro wrestling personalities are now researching MMA events. Due to Bobby Lashley, Dave Batista, and big Pro Wrestling fan Mauro Ranallo being associated with Strikeforce has intrigued many Pro Wrestling fans who are starting to cross-over to MMA. This was the case with Missy Hyatt as she watched Strikeforce & compared it to pro wrestling, in a wonderful must-read article on F4WOnline (subscription required) that details the emotional investments fans have while watching MMA:
Missy Hyatt: The last time I watched Strike Force was when Nick Diaz fought Evangelista Cyborg. I told a fellow old school wrestler to watch the fight for the wrestling psychology. You had a heel champion in Diaz that overlooked his underdog challenger. The underdog in Cyborg gave the champion a big beating only to lose cleanly by the champion. The end result was the baby face challenger raised his stock by coming very close to beating the champion. The heel champion got over by cleanly beating his opponent & flipped somebody off on camera to still gain the ire of the crowd…

The Fedor Emalienko VS. Antonio Silva fight told an amazing story from a wrestling stand point. Fedor was beyond over in the building based on his won-loss record & mystique. John Cena had nothing on Fedor in being a babyface last night in New Jersey. Antonio Silva came across almost like Andre The Giant as a heel in the manor that the fight played out. You had the baby face go toe to toe with his larger foe. Silva had the baby face reeling at times. Fedor would deliver flurries that had the crowd on their feet.

The idea that Fedor vs Siva could be compared to Hulk Hogan vs Andre The Giant is an interesting take that Hyatt has here. You can really see where the wrestling mind differs so much from an MMA fans perspective, though ultimately, both fan bases yearn for the same thing. Learning how to apply and better convey storylines to the fights definitely sells, though sometimes boxing and the UFC have had a tendency to manufacture them, only to see each guy hugging each other at the end of the fight and telling each other that they didn’t mean what they said and they were only trying to sell the fight.

Missy Hyatt: The second round had Antonio Silva gain the advantage & came close to choking out Fedor on several occasions. People were literally on their feet & going nuts for Fedor barely escaping every submission attempt. The crowd went nuts when Fedor reversed a knee bar in to an ankle lock. The best description I could think of would be a Dusty Rhodes or Hulk Hogan comeback in their prime. Silva came across as such a monster heel by waving his finger that the ankle lock was not hurting him to a round of boos at the end of the second round… People were hoping that Fedor would come out in the third round to finally make his comeback in beating Silva. When the doctors stopped the fight for Fedor’s swollen eye, the crowd was angry for a few seconds. When they saw the swollen eye & face of Fedor, they showed genuine empathy.

…

When looking at this fight thru a wrestling perspective. I saw the biggest baby face sell for his opponent, have flurries of comebacks, come close to defeat, & then lose by a referee stoppage. The end result was Silva gained the respect of the crowd for beating Fedor cleanly. Fedor became even more over with fans by hoping that his hint at retirement will not happen until he avenges his loss… Everybody was leaving the building in a state of shock that Fedor lost two in a row. All they kept talking about was the possibility of Fedor coming back in to the tournament in an alternate spot. I was amazed on why wrestling can’t create a baby face that was as over as Fedor. I also realized that nobody in wrestling can understand the concept in which a baby face can lose & still get over. Plus Strike Force elevated the stock of Antonio Silva as a possible drawing card in the future. The chase for a rematch can possibly bring in even more interest & money for the future. There is even money on the table for a Fedor comeback.

…

I’m a wrestling purist, but there were many lessons that people in creative could learn from MMA. Wins & losses do elevate stars. The chase for the title is a theme that never gets old in real sports, movies, & in wrestling.

Post-Event Notes

- Strikeforce announces and advertises the March 5th event in Columbus, Ohio. It will be a part of the Arnold Classic and will be headlined by Strikeforce LHW Champion “Feijao” Cavalcante as he takes on MMA legend Dan Henderson. The co-main event will be Strikeforce 135 lbs champion Marloes Coenen, as she takes on title challengers Miesha Tate. Time Kennedy vs Luke Rockhold and Jorge Masvidal vs Billy Evangelista will also be on the televised portion of the event. The rest of the cast and poster can be found here.


- MMAJunkie: Fedor Emelianenko wanted Strikeforce bout to continue, hints at future fights

- Josh Gross (ESPN): Strikeforce’s Gina Carano to end hiatus - Coker told ESPN.com the fight against a to-be-determined opponent would take place in San Jose, Calif., likely on a card [late June] that features a welterweight championship bout between Nick Diaz and Paul Daley.

- Loretta Hunt (LA Times): Strikeforce still gunning for April event in Japan – Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker has given himself one more week to secure a venue in Japan for a planned April event…Should the event be held stateside, Coker said he is considering Georgia, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas, states whose athletic commissions have apparently agreed to license Josh Barnett…

- M-1 Global and Showtime: TV Deal to Broadcast the M-1 Challenge this year is in place. Deal is for 4 televised events, the first set to air on March 25th at 11 PM ET.

Twitter and Google Trends

Great news for Strikeforce here, as the key words “#Fedor“, “#Strikeforce“, “#HBO Plus“, “#IZOD“, “#Chad Griggs“, “#Del Rosario“, “#Lavar Johnson“, “#Arlovski“, “#Kharitonov“, “#Gina Caran0“, “#Pezao“, and “#Antonio Silva” were all top twitter trends during the evening of the Strikeforce: Fedor vs Silva event. In fact, “#Fedor” and “#Antonio Silva” were remarkably still top trends on Twitter hours after the event had finished. Another great stat here is that 7 out of 10 fighters who fought on the Showtime televised portion of the event were top twitter trends for the evening.

Also, “Fedor”, “Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix”, “Antonio Silva”, “Andrei Arlovski”, “Sergei Kharitonov”, and “Strikeforce”, were all top searches. They were among the top 20 Google Trends in the U.S. on that evening, with “Fedor” reaching and staying at #1 for hours after the event ended.

This event was so popular in Brazil, that the top 3 trends for the evening were “#Strikeforce“, “#Fedor“, and “Pezao“. “HBO Plus” was trending since that is the network that televised the event in Brazil and in the majority of Latin America.

That would make it 7 out of the last 9 events that have trended on Twitter for Strikeforce, with the previous being the highly entertaining match-up between Nick Diaz and Evangelista “Cyborg” just a few weeks before this event.

Sponsor, Promotion and Marketing Watch

- All the usual sponsors where there for this event: FullTilt Poker, Rockstar, GoDaddy, ClinchGear, EA Sports MMA, etc. As we like to point out here on MMAPayout, we always like to see more synergy between big sponsors and the promotions. Metal Mulisha and Cage Hero are steadily growing in their roles in fighter sponsorship throughout these events.

- Strikeforce had a promo to Tweet where you were seated for a chance to win floor seats again, dubbed #sfpickme. Again, a great way to utilize the social media tools that they have. They are also hosting a Ring Girl Contest on their Facebook page as well to keep the motto going.

- Strikeforce is slowly integrating the fighters and their brands with the promotion. If we take a look at the Strikeforce Store, we now see that Dan Henderson is now being advertised on the front page with his own signature shirts for the upcoming Columbus event on March 5th. We will keep a look out and see if they will keep this strategy for future big show headliners. They have recently added new Fedor, King Mo, and Jason “Mayhem” Miller signature shirts as well.

Notables:

• Gate for the event broke the $1 million dollar mark, last achieved by the Fedor vs Werdum event.
  
  
• Highest rated non-ppv MMA not involving Kimbo Slice(Nelson vs Kimbo, Alexander vs Kimbo).
  
  
• Hopefully will get Lenne Hardt(Epic Female Pride Announcer) in SF soon for the remainder of the GP.
  
  
• 3rd consecutive SF card that has 'delivered' in the entertainment department.
  
  
• Major buzz; Strikeforce Fedor vs Silva ranked in the top 10 both in Google Trends and Twitter (in multiple countries as well as worldwide).
  
  
• Stirred massive and ongoing debate among MMA fans, fighters, promoters and reporters regarding Fedor.
  
  
• HDNet provided opportunity for the card in its entirety to be seen.
  
  
• Fedor was the number 1 searched item on Google for hours and Strikeforce and “Strikeforce Heavy Weight Tournament” was near the top as well. It was near the top on Twitter, Google, and many other websites. The event was so popular in Brazil, that the top 3 trends there were “Strikeforce”, “Fedor”, and “Pezao” the entire evening on until the next day. Even the station that televised the event in Brazil and Latin America, “HBO Plus” was a top 10 trend.
  
  
• Strikeforce and CEO Scott Coker featured on Bloomberg.
  
  
• After the event concluded, it was front-paged and made the lead-story on ESPN, now the second event in a row to do so, which is a first for Strikeforce.
  
  
• SF is potentially gaining Pro wrestling fans through great fighter buildup and marketing combined with in match results.
  
  
• Generates extended interest in other SF news(Carano return, other GP fights, Hendo/Cavalcante, etc.,.).
  

•Hopefully will get Lenne Hardt(Epic Female Pride Announcer) in SF soon for the remainder of the GP.


replacing who? or just adding?

that lady is awesome!

OU wrote:

•Hopefully will get Lenne Hardt(Epic Female Pride Announcer) in SF soon for the remainder of the GP.


replacing who? or just adding?

Jimmy Lemon Jr. I'd imagine.

Sounds to me like SF is ready to collapse!

GDPofDRC wrote:

Notables:

• Gate for the event broke the $1 million dollar mark, last achieved by the Fedor vs Werdum event.
  
  
• Most viewed non-ppv MMA not involving Kimbo Slice(Nelson vs Kimbo, Alexander vs Kimbo).
  
  
• Hopefully will get Lenne Hardt(Epic Female Pride Announcer) in SF soon for the remainder of the GP.
  
  
• 3rd consecutive SF card that has 'delivered' in the entertainment department.
  
  
• Major buzz; Strikeforce Fedor vs Silva ranked in the top 10 both in Google Trends and Twitter (in multiple countries as well as worldwide).
  
  
• Stirred massive and ongoing debate among MMA fans, fighters, promoters and reporters regarding Fedor.
  
  
• HDNet provided opportunity for the card in its entirety to be seen.
  
  
• Fedor was the number 1 searched item on Google for hours and Strikeforce and “Strikeforce Heavy Weight Tournament” was near the top as well. It was near the top on Twitter, Google, and many other websites. The event was so popular in Brazil, that the top 3 trends there were “Strikeforce”, “Fedor”, and “Pezao” the entire evening on until the next day. Even the station that televised the event in Brazil and Latin America, “HBO Plus” was a top 10 trend.
  
  
• Strikeforce and CEO Scott Coker featured on Bloomberg.
  
  
• After the event concluded, it was front-paged and made the lead-story on ESPN, now the second event in a row to do so, which is a first for Strikeforce.
  
  
• SF is potentially gaining Pro wrestling fans through great fighter buildup and marketing combined with in match results.
  
  
• Generates extended interest in other SF news(Carano return, other GP fights, Hendo/Cavalcante, etc.,.).
  

That was really the most viewed Non-PPV MMA event not involving Kimbo? I thought a couple UFC's on Spike have broke a 1.1 million peak, didn't Nate vs Okami just do like 2 mill?

Should say highest rated since Kimbo on basic Cable. But it beats out the biggest before it I know of Peak-wise(Shamrock vs Ortiz III 3.1 Rating)

Quote :

Another eye popping stat is that this event drew a higher rating than any MMA broadcast on television since December 5, 2009, when Kimbo Slice fought on Spike against Houston Alexander, and the show drew a 2.38 rating

Ah...

Nate vs Okami had a peak of like 2.1 million viewers, but overall household rating of 1.5 or 6. Never looked into how that all works.