Live coverage of ‘UFC On Fuel TV 3’ on Tuesday night drew an average of 173,000 viewers according to official figures.
That’s the lowest of the three Fuel TV events so far in 2012 though still within the same ballpark, with ‘UFC On Fuel TV 1’ having pulled in 217,000 viewers while ‘UFC On Fuel TV 2’ did 197,000. It did however beat out the live ‘Prelim Specials’ that Fuel TV have shown so far.
The fact the card was on a Tuesday night probably didn’t help, though it should be noted that the two other events also had unusual timeslots on a Wednesday night and a Saturday afternoon respectively.
I think the slight drop in ratings is more to do with the main event. Though The Korean Zombie Vs Dustin Poirier turned out to be a potential ‘Fight Of The Year’ candidate and completely justified it’s place at the top of the card, in terms of star power it doesn’t compare to ‘UFC On Fuel TV 1’s Diego Sanchez Vs Martin Kampmann bout, or the following show’s light-heavyweight tilt between Thiago Silva and Alexander Gustafsson.
There was also very little promotion around Tuesday night’s show so the slightly lower ratings are to be expected, though on face value it doesn’t look particularly good for the UFC that the ratings for these events are consistently falling just as their counterparts on FOX have done (though by contrast ‘UFC On FX’ shows are actually steadily on the increase).
I think it worked out ok from the UFC’s perspective though. A few thousand viewers less on Fuel TV isn’t the end of the world and it gave them the opportunity to raise ‘The Korean Zombie’s’ profile (and indeed Poirier for that matter since he impressed many with his performance).
However, it is unfortunate that a great fight like this was seen by so few people. If this had been the headliner of a traditional ‘Fight Night’ card on Spike TV last year it would have been seen by at least 1.5 million or so viewers, and that massive drop-off in viewers is far from ideal.
The quicker FOX can establish new deals with the television providers to get Fuel TV available in more homes the better as it could be a great platform for the UFC, but right now being on it is something of a labor of love.
UFC On Fuel TV Ratings So Far:
- UFC On Fuel TV 1: 217,000 Viewers
- UFC On Fuel TV 2: 197,000 Viewers
- UFC On Fuel TV 3: 173,000 Viewers
