The UFC held its first ever event in China on Saturday and the event didn’t disappoint with a knockout for the ages in the main event between middleweights Cung Le and Rich Franklin.
The event delivered FUEL TV’s best Saturday prime time audience ever, according to figures released by Nielsen Media Research.
The event was shown live in an odd time slot at 9 a.m. ET to accomodate time zone differences between China and the United States. The live show drew 88,000 viewers, FUEL TV’s second most-viewed morning ever. The encore at 7:00 p.m. ET recorded 143,000 viewers, and the late-night broadcast added an additional 59,000 viewers for a grand total of 290,000 viewers.
UFC on FUEL TV 6 marked the last of six live UFC events that have aired live fights on FUEL TV this year. UFC on FUEL TV 7 will take place on February 13, 2013, and UFC ON FUEL TV 8 will follow on March 2.
Additional Audience Highlights:
· Saturday, November 10 was FUEL TV’s third most-watched day in network history with Total Day up +307% among Total Viewers vs. the November 2011 Saturday average;
· Saturday was the network’s fourth most-watched night of prime time, as the day part was up +461% among Total Viewers vs. the November 2011 Saturday average;
· Saturday late night was up +137% vs. the November 2011 Saturday day part average;
· The live airing of UFC ON FUEL TV 6: FRANKLIN VS. LE peaked during the final quarter hour (11:45 AM ET – 12:00 PM ET) with 128,000 Total Viewers, +45% compared the event average (88,000);
· The prime time rebroadcast had a peak of 153,000 Total Viewers (7:45 PM ET – 8:00 PM ET).
“We’ve had six fantastic live fights this year and they all delivered record audiences to FUEL TV,” says George Greenberg, Executive Vice President and General Manager, FUEL TV. “Our first year as the primary cable home of the UFC has been amazing, providing the network its most-watched year ever. We’re looking forward to much, much more in 2013 and the years to come. The UFC is a great partner whose entrepreneurial spirit matches up perfectly with the FOX Sports Media Group family.”
UFC programming will continue on FUEL TV this week with the UFC 154 weigh-in’s as well as the pre/post-fight UFC 154 event this weekend.