The ratings for Saturday night’s UFC 240 prelims are in and show that an average of 722,000 viewers tuned in on ESPN.
That’s a disappointing number for a lead-in to a pay-per-view, marking the lowest prelims for a PPV show so far on ESPN, with the previous low being 819,000 for UFC 237: Namajunas vs. Andrade’s undercard back in May.
Saturday night’s prelims peaked at 883,000 during a fight between Viviane Araujo and Alexis Davis.
The broadcast was No.1 amongst males 18-34 and No.2 for males 18-49, but only managed no.4 overall for the 18-49 year-old demographic, despite there being not much in the way of sporting competition on the night.
It’s perhaps not so surprising that the event wasn’t a hit ratings wise as in general the main card for UFC 240 was viewed as being underwhelming.
Max Holloway vs. Frankie Edgar was a respectable headliner, though most believed it was a foregone conclusion that ‘Blessed’ would win, while on paper Cris ‘Cyborg’ seemed to have a comfortable fight on her hands against the relatively new UFC Prospect Felicia Spencer.
Beyond that the card completely fell away in terms of star power and did little to entice people to part with their cash for the pay-per-view or tune in for the preliminary card.
