FS1's peak audience for its 11:00pm ET edition of "Fox Sports Live" came during its inaugural show last Saturday, as the net averaged 476,000 viewers for the program that had a lead-in from UFC Fight Night. That telecast, which featured Chael Sonnen defeating Shogun Rua in the main card, was FS1's best draw on its first day, with the bout averaging 1.8 million viewers. So far, "Fox Sports Live" has had two live lead-in sports event programs, those being Saturday’s UFC bout and Monday's Golden Boy boxing event. Overall numbers show that the 11:00pm broadcast lost audience over its first four nights, while seeing a slight increase on Wednesday evening. In terms of the demo makeup of the “Fox Sports Live” viewership, the youngest audience came on Aug. 18, when the average age was 31.9 years old. The lead-in on that day was another episode of "Fox Sports Live." The nascent program's age peaked on Aug. 20 when the average age was 43.6. That was also the program's lowest audience with 61,000 viewers. A lead-in featured a taped interview with Patriots QB Tom Brady. "Fox Sports Live" was also shown on many of Fox' RSNs. Those telecasts, which typically had a lead-in from MLB games or postgame shows, have delivered a total audienc reach of 67,000 homes per night. Listed below is a comparison of the 11:00pm editions of FS1's "Fox Sports Live" and ESPN's "SportsCenter" from Aug. 17-21.
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------ 11:00pm "FOX SPORTS LIVE" ------
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------ 11:00pm "SPORTSCENTER" ------
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|
DATE
|
VIEWERS
(000)
|
MALES 18-49
(000)
|
AVG.
AGE
|
VIEWERS
(000)
|
MALES 18-49
(000)
|
AVG.
AGE
|
|
Sat., August 17
|
476
|
273
|
34.9
|
872
|
383
|
38.5
|
|
Sun., August 18*
|
120
|
69
|
31.9
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
|
Mon., August 19
|
82
|
46
|
41.6
|
1,940
|
856
|
40.5
|
|
Tues., August 20
|
61
|
34
|
43.6
|
624
|
343
|
38.5
|
|
Wed., August 21
|
66
|
29
|
46.3
|
974
|
378
|
40.3
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
NOTE: * = ESPN had "Sunday Night Baseball" on Aug. 18.
FIGHT NIGHT: During the first day of programming on FS1 last Saturday, UFC programming led the way. The audience for UFC Fight Night marked the second-best UFC cable TV audience since the organization signed on with Fox prior to '12. Among the previous eight UFC fight cards on FX, only the Jan. 19 telecast earned a better audience (1.9 million viewers). That telecast featured Vitor Belfort defeating Michael Bisping from Brazil. Saturday night's UFC debut on FS1 was also well above the 1.3 million average viewers for the previous eight telecasts on FX.
|
DATE
|
LOCATION |
START (ET)
|
NET
|
RATING
|
VIEWERS (000)
|
|
Fri., January 20, 2012
|
Nashville |
9:00pm
|
FX
|
0.8
|
1,271
|
|
Fri., March 2, 2012
|
Sydney |
9:00pm
|
FX
|
0.9
|
1,430
|
|
Fri., June 8, 2012
|
Sunrise (Fla.) |
9:00pm
|
FX
|
0.6
|
1,086
|
|
Fri., June 22, 2012
|
Atlantic City |
9:00pm
|
FX
|
0.9
|
1,306
|
|
Fri., October 5, 2012
|
Minneapolis |
8:00pm
|
FX
|
0.7
|
1,084
|
|
Fri., December 14, 2012
|
Queensland |
9:00pm
|
FX
|
0.6
|
972
|
|
Sat., January 19, 2013
|
Brazil |
9:00pm
|
FX
|
1.1
|
1,857
|
|
Sat., May 18, 2013
|
Brazil |
9:00pm
|
FX
|
0.8
|
1,329
|
|
Sat., August 17, 2013
|
Boston |
8:00pm
|
FS1
|
1.0
|
1,782
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
HAVE TO START SOMEWHERE: While UFC programming was the highlight of day one for FS1, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race from Michigan Int'l Speedway on Saturday afternoon drew 783,000 viewers. For comparison to other Saturday afternoon races, Speed drew 746,000 for its last NCWTS race on Saturday, Aug. 3, from Pocono Raceway, and 1.01 million viewers for the April 20 race from Kansas Speedway. The programming on FS1 last Saturday also was well ahead of shows on Speed the previous Saturday. The net's top two programs on Aug. 10 were Barrett Jackson car auction telecasts, averaging 441,000 and 339,000 viewers, respectively. Through Wednesday, the average age for a viewer of FS1 was seven years younger than the average age of a Speed viewer one year ago. Among primetime telecasts, the average age was 10 years younger. The net also reached 10.5 million cumulative viewers through Wednesday, including 5.5 million viewers in primetime. FS1 also begins its coverage of college football next Thursday with Utah State-Utah. Last season, FX averaged 611,000 viewers for 20 college football telecasts.
|
PROGRAMMING FOR FIRST DAY OF FOX SPORTS 1
|
|
TIME SLOT (ET)
|
PROGRAM/EVENT |
VIEWERS (000)
|
|
8:00-10:43pm
|
UFC Fight Night: Chael Sonnen d. Shogun Rua |
1,782
|
|
6:00-8:00pm
|
UFC Fight Night Prelims |
881
|
|
12:31-2:35pm
|
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series: Michigan |
783
|
|
10:43pm-12:00am
|
"Fox Sports Live" |
476
|
|
11:00am-12:00pm
|
NASCAR Sprint Cup final practice |
397
|
|
12:00-12:31pm
|
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series setup |
392
|
|
2:35-3:06pm
|
"Fox Sports 1-on-1: Strahan-Brady" |
349
|
|
9:30-11:00am
|
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series qualifying |
257
|
|
3:06-3:30pm
|
"Fantastic Finishes" |
254
|
|
5:00-6:00pm
|
"UFC Fight Night Prefight" |
249
|
|
3:30-4:30pm
|
"Fox College Football Kickoff" |
173
|
|
8:30-9:30am
|
NASCAR Sprint Cup practice |
164
|
|
4:30-5:00pm
|
"UFC Ultimate Insider" |
145
|
|
8:00-8:30am
|
"NASCAR Live" |
80
|
|
6:00-7:00am
|
"Fox College Football Kickoff" |
62
|
|
7:00-7:30am
|
"Fantastic Finishes" |
35
|
|
7:30-8:00am
|
"Fantastic Finishes" |
23
|
