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Strikeforce “Fedor vs. Rogers” Rating Disappoints, But Tops Football

No matter how the rating for Saturday’s “Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers” event is spun by the players involved, observers must acknowledge that there was some disappointment.

The CBS broadcast, from 9-11PM, averaged 3.8 million viewers and a 1.7/6 in adults 18-49. The household rating was a 2.3. While the demo figure is acceptable, it neither reflects the “special” nature of the event (a rare MMA card on CBS, Fedor in a live main event) nor makes up for the show’s overall viewership disappointment.

When the final rating is revealed, it will most certainly improve, as the Fedor-Rogers fight took place in the overrun. Nonetheless, the overall viewer average is hardly a victory for the show, especially considering the overall viewership growth mixed martial arts has experienced since Elite XC last posted solid ratings for Kimbo Slice’s fights on CBS. Between Kimbo’s presence on “The Ultimate Fighter” and monster buyrates for UFC 100 and UFC 101, the last few months have taken mixed martial arts to a higher level, and UFC or not, there should be higher expectations for viewership.

Compared to other EXC shows on CBS, this broadcast did worse than the Kimbo fights but better than the July 2008 showing. While the rating for UFC’s “Main Events” special is not yet out for comparison, this broadcast also did worse than the Kimbo vs. Roy Nelson episode of “The Ultimate Fighter” on Spike TV (not even including the spike for the actual fight).

One particularly noteworthy concern is the difference between the Strikeforce on CBS audience and the typical UFC fight audience. Though the show did win in adults 18-49, notably topping ABC’s college football broadcast, its audience skewed older than most UFC airings. While that would imply that some of the males 18-34 were consumed with the UFC special on Spike TV, it also suggests that Strikeforce, especially without a drawing card like a Kimbo, is drawing from curious viewers–older individuals watching CBS at the time anyway or casual boxing and fight fans who are interested in a live fight–rather than from target mixed martial arts fans sold on the viability and interest of the Strikeforce brand.

CBS ranked in last place among the big four for total viewers and third in adults 18-49, although as far as the latter is concerned, the network was held down with a poor showing at 8PM.

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Written by Brian Cantor

Brian Cantor is the editor-in-chief for Headline Planet. He has been a leading reporter in the music, movie, television and sporting spaces since 2002.

Brian's reporting has been cited by major websites like BuzzFeed, Billboard, the New Yorker and The Fader -- and shared by celebrities like Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber and Nicki Minaj.

Contact Brian at brian.cantor[at]headlineplanet.com.

Comments

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  1. You act like you’re not trying to skew things, you rotten zuffa zombie.

    I think this was one of the 3 or 4 highest ratings for an mma fight event ever. Not that there’s been many events broadcast, but still.

    kill zuffa, that’s all. Maybe, they’re already dead.

    armed.vox.com

  2. Rather than being objective, it seems like you want me to be straight-up pro Strikeforce.

    This is a disappointing rating, not simply because the number itself is low but because it represented the absolute best drawing card Strikeforce has in its male division. If a heavily-hyped Fedor card does a 1.7 demo rating, what will some other lineups do? 1.3, 1.4?

    If UFC had Brock Lesnar, Forrest Griffin, Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz, GSP or Rashad Evans on network television (probably their six most proven draws), do you really think a number that pales in comparison to a taped TUF fight between Kimbo Slice and Roy Nelson would be acceptable? Trust me, I don’t, and I would not have written something positive about it if it were the case.

    Any MMA fan should look at this number as disappointment. Until even the least-stacked live card can post an adults 18-49 rating of 2.0 (frankly, it should be 2.5), you won’t see a monthly live MMA show on network TV.

  3. How do they know that i tune to that show last night, are we been spy now.
    i don’t believe on there numbers neither on your blog.And the reason is simple all there statistics are false and manipulated to confused the mass.
    All i know it was an spectacular fedor performance. where every one involved there where happy with the pace of cake taken home.and at the end we get it for free.

  4. I don’t look at the rating myself. I look at whether they were good fights and they were. So, I will continue to watch fights. UFC, Strikeforce, or any other MMA event. Screw the rating, bring on the fights.

  5. oh, and any “reporter” who has to reply to his own article to prove his point has lost my respect.

  6. I watched the fights last night and enjoyed them, except for the Shields snooze-fest, and I’m surprised they didn’t do better in the ratings. They were worth a watch even on PPV.

    The ratings don’t have much, if anything, to do with what I choose to watch, but as an MMA fan who would like to see more free MMA on network TV, I do care about how good the ratings are, and so should you. Without decent ratings, the free MMA will go away.

    I have to agree that a card with Chuck Liddell or Brock Lesnar would do much better on network TV. I’m not as convinced that Rashad or Forrest would pull as big a crowd, though I would personally rather see either of them fight than Chuck or Brock. They just aren’t as mainstream.

  7. “No matter how the rating for Saturday’s “Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers” event is spun by the players involved, observers must acknowledge that there was some disappointment.”

    I doubt it. 3.8 is a great result: a promotion building result. How many people watched machida/showgun live….?
    Anyways, you say disappointed; that assumes you expect the strikeforce brass to expect more: How many views did you expect? 10 million?

  8. Unbelievable. Strikeforce did poor ratings because regardless of what you spaz freaks thing, Fedor is not a draw. You all should have seen this coming. The author, who himself seems a bit surprised, is merely stating the facts and you guys attack him like he’s some corporate Zuffa flunky. What are you going to say when the final tally comes in and says the same thing?

    Let’s face is, your precious Fedor doesn’t mean a thing to the US public. Strikeforce has the number 1 HW in the world with NOBODY to showcase him with. He’ll never be a star with their HW roster. What’s more, he’s a worse draw than a YouTube street fighter. Me? Hell yeah I think it’s hilarious, go ahead and call me biased. But the author of this entry? Clearly being objective and shouldn’t have even taken the time to respond to you fools.

  9. Fedor is by far one the best(if not THE BEST)p4p fighters in the world. That being said outside of Europe, Japan, or the hardcore MMA fanbase he’s just not a huge draw.

  10. I think it’s comical that this Zuffa lackey, tries to discredit the results, by saying the age of viewers skewed higher than the UFC. One of the UFC’s major problems is that they are making no attempt to get a broader demographic and continuing to cater entirely to young males. That attitude is not going to bring MMA to network television like boxing in its heyday.

    The fact that the ratings are so high, with the extremely limited ad campaign, is amazing. I didn’t catch one of the television commercials for the event until Saturday afternoon. Compare that to the UFC’s ad saturation, months before their PPV shows. Then you’ve got Zuffa desperately clinging to their monopoly, by counterprogramming the hell out Strikeforce.

    This event was a fantastic show, and I expect a stepping stone to bigger and better things for MMA as a whole. Can’t wait for the next CBS Strikeforce show, because I don’t want to watch the UFC’s fraudulent product anymore, not after the Shogun Machida farce.

  11. The hardcore MMA fans know and recognize that Fedor is the best and will tune in to watch him.

    The idiot meatheads that our sport also attracts don’t know and don’t care. It’s their loss.

  12. @Oldsmobility

    Aside from your obvious attempt at at trolling if you were turned off by a close descion like that then you fall into the category of fans that watch MMA for nothing but violence and bloodshed. While I do think that Shogun should have won this was no where near being called a robbery. Don’t believe me here:

    http://bleacherreport.com/articles/278606-lyoto-machida-did-more-than-you-think-he-did-vs-shogun

    http://bleacherreport.com/articles/279034-machida-vs-shogun-some-points-to-clear-up

    http://bleacherreport.com/articles/279305-machida-shogun-wait-arent-we-missing-something

    This card from Strikeforece was quite good, but comparing it to some of the cards that UFC has put this year it was barely passable(Fedor and Mousasi Saving it from mediocrity)and they had to use pretty much all of their talent. This was a BIG step for MMA and Strikeforce in particular, but if you think this automatically puts them in competition with the UFC then your living in denial and have a biased blind hatred for Zuffa and the UFC.

  13. Overall this card has some good fights the Fedor fight was excellent had a lot of drama and a great finish. I have nothing negative to say about Strikeforce and their presentation on Saturday.
    The problem in why they didn’t do the numbers that Kimbo did is simple Fedor is a great fighter one of the greatest if not the greatest of all time. However he isn’t well known inside the US and CBS and Strikeforce did their best to market this fight but it wasn’t enough. Truth be told the UFC are the only organization that is mainstream and it is only there that Fedor would become a major star.
    Maybe Strikeforce will improve their ratings I hope they do but really they have no major test for Fedor. Best of luck Strikeforce.

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