SF viewers down - updated

The stats show that ratings actually dropped during the last half hour of the show’s alloted two hour time-slot on CBS – though in fact the show actually ran on longer than that so we will have to wait until later on in the week to find out how the rest of the show fared.

To give you a rough idea of where those numbers compare to previous MMA events on the CBS network. Please note these are the final ratings for these events which tend to be higher than the overnights.

• Third EliteXC on CBS: Averaged 4.56 million
• Strikeforce: Fedor Vs Rogers On CBS: Averaged 4.042 million (3.79 million in the overnights)
• Strikeforce Nashville: Averaged 2.63 million (based on the overnights)

The figures do not bode well for Strikeforce’s long-term future on the CBS network

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"Saturday Night Fights" averaged 2.63 million viewers for the live network television broadcast and earned an anemic 1.0 rating. To put that number in perspective, Strikeforce was beat by America's Most Wanted and a repeat of Law & Order.

It also fell far short of their CBS debut last November when "Fedor vs. Rogers" drew 3.79 million viewers in the overnight ratings (and later peaked with 5.46 million in the main event).

The final numbers that include the remainder of the Shields vs. Henderson main event as well as the post-fight melee will be available Tuesday.

Here's a snapshot of the quarterly breakdown, courtesy of TV by the Numbers:
9:00 p.m. – Viewers: 2.57 million (#4), A18-49: 0.8/ 3 (#4)
9:30 p.m. – Viewers: 2.55 million (#4), A18-49: 1.0/ 3 (#4)
10:00 p.m. – Viewers: 2.89 million (#3), A18-49: 1.2/ 4 (#2)
10:30 p.m. – Viewers: 2.52 million (#3), A18-49: 1.0/ 3 (#2)

The ratings were down slightly for an event with no household names on a sports day dominated by all kinds of other things.

Que the chorus line of OMG THE SKY IS FALLING UFC RULES STRIKEFORCE SUCKS AND WILL FAIL AHAHAHA right about....












now!


This place has become a tiny little sherdog colony.

They were down over a million viewers. No matter how you spin it, it isn't a good sign for SF. Hopefully their next event gets back above 4 million and then some otherwise I doubt CBS keeps putting on these quarterly shows.

As for household names... uhh there was 3 champions fighting and their biggest free agent signing besides Fedor. If these guys can't get the numbers then it leaves only Fedor and Diaz with any drawing power.

problem was that we had 15 rds of grappling. the names were there, but the fights were not riveting.

If the scuffle had happened earlier the #'s prob would not have dropped.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

The ratings were down slightly for an event with no household names on a sports day dominated by all kinds of other things.

Que the chorus line of OMG THE SKY IS FALLING UFC RULES STRIKEFORCE SUCKS AND WILL FAIL AHAHAHA right about....












now!


This place has become a tiny little sherdog colony.

Not the end of the company, but combine the sinking ratings with the brawl at the end of the show and this probably is the end of Strikeforce on CBS. The ratings shrinking doesn't tell the whole story either. CBS has been getting similar or better numbers airing reruns in this timeslot, and Strikeforce shows are both more expensive to put on and of an indeterminate length.

The brawl at the end will have absolutely no effect on SF's future with CBS. I can't believe people seriously think this

bobbitt15 wrote:

The brawl at the end will have absolutely no effect on SF's future with CBS. I can't believe people seriously think this

I think it will help actually.

CBS doesn't advertise the shows enough imo. They need to pump it all the time and the viewers will pour in. I only saw a handful of commercials the past few weeks for this show.

bigbeastcardinal12 wrote:

CBS doesn't advertise the shows enough imo. They need to pump it all the time and the viewers will pour in. I only saw a handful of commercials the past few weeks for this show.

Good point! They do need more advertising. It also hurt that Fedor vs Werdum didnt happen also. That would have boosted the rating alot in my opion.

The average from 8-10 is a let down, no doubt.

I'm pretty sure the amount of viewers went significantly up after the 2 hours because thats when the main event actually started. So this takes into account Mo/Mousasi, Melendez/Aoki and commercials. So we'll have to wait and see.

but overall, that's way down from the average viewers with the first 3 bouts at the last CBS card but we can't compare the overall number until you add in what came in after the alloted 2 hour space.

Anyway, i expected poor ratings for this card. Not enough advertisement and or name value...CBS is at fault there. They claimed they would blitz the march madness with ads and they failed.

That said, Strikeforce will get back on CBS again this fall with Fedor. If the ratings tank then...which i don't think they will then they'll stay on Showtime.

That's the problem with network TV...you can't have these fights that spend so much time on the ground otherwise casuals get restless if they don't know all the names involved.

That's a pretty big drop.

captain organic wrote:

bobbitt15 wrote:

The brawl at the end will have absolutely no effect on SF's future with CBS. I can't believe people seriously think this

I think it will help actually.

HOW?

muayjitsu wrote:

captain organic wrote:

bobbitt15 wrote:

The brawl at the end will have absolutely no effect on SF's future with CBS. I can't believe people seriously think this

I think it will help actually.

HOW?

Please refer to BBC12 qoutes in the pat 24 hours. lol

updated

Shoulda had Lashley on the card. Fight would have been boring, but the wrasslin fans would have drove up the ratings a cool million.

bigbeastcardinal12 wrote:

Shoulda had Lashley on the card. Fight would have been boring, but the wrasslin fans would have drove up the ratings a cool million.

No Walker or Lashley

Farmer1906 wrote:

bigbeastcardinal12 wrote:

Shoulda had Lashley on the card. Fight would have been boring, but the wrasslin fans would have drove up the ratings a cool million.

No Walker or Lashley

Yeah Walker would have helped also.

This wasn't going to be highly rated. It had MMA appeal, not broad/celeb fighter appeal.
Working against it
NBA playoffs
MLB
Spring Saturday night = people were out having fun
No Celeb fighters

GDPofDRC wrote:

This wasn't going to be highly rated. It had MMA appeal, not broad/celeb fighter appeal.
Working against it
NBA playoffs
MLB
Spring Saturday night = people were out having fun
No Celeb fighters

MLB, Saturday night, and no celeb fighters are pretty dumb excuses.

GDPofDRC wrote:

This wasn't going to be highly rated. It had MMA appeal, not broad/celeb fighter appeal.
Working against it
NBA playoffs
MLB
Spring Saturday night = people were out having fun
No Celeb fighters

Don't forget about NHL playoffs.

Why. Three people I usually watch the fights with were at the Dodgers/giants game. and a few others were getting wasted at a picnic fair and decided not to come watch the fights because they stayed there late then went to the bars. Dan Henderson was the biggest name on the card and he appeals to MMA fans. Casual folk had nothing outside of MMA to draw to this.

MMA doesn't care about the 100 people they lost to MLB....and number is being generous.

GDPofDRC wrote:

Why. Three people I usually watch the fights with were at the Dodgers/giants game. and a few others were getting wasted at a picnic fair and decided not to come watch the fights because they stayed there late then went to the bars. Dan Henderson was the biggest name on the card and he appeals to MMA fans. Casual folk had nothing outside of MMA to draw to this.

The MLB season lasts from April to Nov. Over half the year baseball is going on. Baseball games took hundreds of viewers away more hundreds of thousands.

I don't know if you noticed, but more fights are Saturday night. Ever seen a UFC PPV primetime on a Thursday?

chorky777 wrote:

GDPofDRC wrote:

This wasn't going to be highly rated. It had MMA appeal, not broad/celeb fighter appeal.
Working against it
NBA playoffs
MLB
Spring Saturday night = people were out having fun
No Celeb fighters

Don't forget about NHL playoffs.

The 3 of the 7 guys watching the NHL who watch MMA weren't noticed.

Either way this wasn't gonna draw well outside of the MMA crowd.