TUF 17: Episode 4 – TV Ratings

Episode four of The Ultimate Fighter 17 drew an average of 1.25 million viewers on FX This past Tuesday night.

That’s a slight increase of 50,000 viewers over thte previous week’s episode and indicates that the ratings may now be starting to settle after initially sliding down from the 1.51 million who tuned in to the premiere last month.

“The Ultimate Fighter is pacing +50% above last season,” FX media relations VP John Solberg noted on Twitter yesterday, and it’s also an improvement over the TUF: Live (AKA TUF 15) season too, though overall the show is still underperforming compared to it’s long-run on Spike TV.

So, if TUF 17 can hold on to this audience in the coming weeks then it won’t have done too badly, though I can’t help but feel that FX would have been looking for more from this property after the double-whammy of moving it to Tuesday night’s as a lead in for popular show ‘Justified’, alongside the introduction of high-profile coaches Jon Jones and Chael Sonnen.

TUF 17 Ratings So Far:

Week 1: 1.51 million viewers
Week 2: 1.3 million viewers
Week 3: 1.2 million viewers
Week 4: 1.25 million viewers

Ross launched MMA Insight (previously FightOfTheNight.com) in 2009 as a way to channel his passion for the sport of mixed martial arts. He's since penned countless news stories and live fight reports along with dozens of feature articles as the lead writer for the site, reaching millions of fans in the process.