UFC helps FUEL TV become fastest growing cable network in first quarter 2012

We reported last month that UFC programming was helping FUEL TV set all types of ratings records for the network, and that trend appears to be continuing with the latest news released by FUEL TV via press release:

FUEL TV First Quarter 2012 Audience Highlights:

• Q1 2012 was FUEL TV’s most-watched in network history, finishing up +100% in Total Viewers and up +125% in M18-49 vs. Q1 2011;
• Q1 Prime Time viewership increased +200% in Total Viewers and +260% among M18-49 vs. the same quarter last year;
• Q1 Late Night increased +222% on Total Viewers and +275% among M18-49 compared to Q1 in 2011.

This news continues on the success of the last two months, including February which was the most-watched month ever for FUEL TV. The other impressive thing is that there was no live UFC fights to air on FUEL TV in the month of March out of the total 213 hours of content that aired. The content was composed of past fights from UFC PPV’s and news driven content like ‘UFC Tonight’ and ‘Ultimate Insider’.

FUEL TV should also see continued growth the next couple of months as the network is scheduled to host a live UFC events in April and May respectively. UFC on FUEL TV 2 will air live on April 14th from Stockholm, Sweden, with Swedish native Alexander Gustafsson taking on Thiago Silva in the main event. UFC on FUEL TV 3 will air live on May 15th with UFC featherweights Dustin Poirier and the “Korean Zombie” doing battle in the main event.

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.