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SBD/August 30, 2012/Research and Ratings
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ESPN's "Friday Night Fights" Sees Lowest Season Audience Since Inception In '98
ESPN2 averaged 409,000 viewers for its 26 “Friday Night Fights” telecasts this season, marking the series’ least-viewed season since its creation in ’98. The audience this season was down 25% from last season. This season’s schedule also saw increased competition from additional Friday night NBA games, as well as the London Games. In addition, the ’12 figure is down 19% from the audience two years ago. “FNF” peaked in ’06 with just over 600,000 viewers. From ’02-07, the series averaged between 450,000-550,000 viewers. The “FNF” telecast on April 13 was the most-viewed episode this year for a junior welterweight bout featuring Albert Mensah-Michael Katsidis (11:25pm ET start, latest all season). Below are the top five “FNF” telecasts from this past season.
MOST-VIEWED ESPN2 "FRIDAY NIGHT FIGHTS" TELECASTS IN '12DATESTART (ET)FEATURED BOUT(S) LOCATION VIEWERS
(000)4/1311:25pmAlbert Mensah-Michael Katsidis Las Vegas 6691/279:00pmRuslan Provodnikov-David Torres/
Ji-Hoon Kim-Yakuba AmidaAirway Heights, Wash. 5942/249:13pmJuan Carlos Burgos-Cristobal Cruz Dover, Del. 5471/139:00pmChris Martin-Teon Kennedy Las Vegas 5346/810:22pmKelly Pavlik-Scott Sigmon Las Vegas 527




