The relationship between FUEL TV and the Ultimate Fighting Championship continued to prosper in the month of May as FUEL TV was television’s fastest-growing cable network in May and for 2012. FUEL TV aired a record 360 hours of UFC programming in May, surpassing the old record of 340 hours which was set in April.
FUEL TV aired a live UFC event in May which become the most watched Tuesday show and third most watched show in the history of the network. What’s impressive is that the show was headlined by two relatively unknown fighters in the featherweight division on a night that isn’t common for MMA action. The next live UFC event to air on FUEL TV will be the UFC on FUEL TV: Munoz vs. Weidman event that will take place in July.
Here are some highlights from last months numbers:
May 2012 was up +171% in Total Viewers and +200% in M18-49 vs. May 2011;
· Prime time viewership grew +280% on Total Viewers and +220% among M18-49 compared to May 2011;
· UFC on FUEL TV Fight Night on May 15 (UFC ON FUEL TV: THE KOREAN ZOMBIE VS. DUSTIN POIRIER) delivered the third most-watched program in FUEL TV history;
· The show peaked at217,000 Total Viewers from 9:30pm ET – 9:45pm ET;
· May 15 was the most-watched Tuesday ever in network history;
· May 2012 was the network’s second most-watched month ever, behind February 2012;
· For the first five months of 2012, prime time viewership is averaging an increase of +218% over 2011;
· Since January 1, the network’s total day viewership is up +125% compared to 2011;
It’ll be interesting to see if FUEL TV can sustain this record breaking pace over the next few months and more importantly, continue to add households to its distribution list as it’s only available in 36 million homes at this point. Stay tuned to Pro MMA Now for more commentary and analysis as more data becomes available throughout the year.