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Audience Analysis: UFC/Fox Sees January Decline; Winter X Games Lowest Since '04

Fox finished with 2.69 million viewers for its 18th UFC fight card on Saturday night, marking the lowest audience for a January UFC telecast on Fox since the partnership began in ’12. Saturday’s telecast, which was highlighted by Anthony Johnson’s win over Ryan Bader, is down 12% from 3.05 million viewers for the UFC telecast in the same window last January, which featured Johnson’s win over Alexander Gustafsson. Fox drew 2.78 million viewers for its Dec. 19 UFC telecast, which featured Rafael dos Anjos-Donald Cerrone.

AUDIENCE FOR JANUARY UFC FIGHT TELECASTS ON FOX
DATE
HEADLINE FIGHT
RATING
VIEWERS (000)
1/28/12
Rashad Evans-Phil Davis
2.6
4,661
1/26/13
Demetrious Johnson-John Dodson
2.4
4,219
1/25/14
Benson Henderson-Josh Thomson
1.9
3,169
1/24/15
Anthony Johnson-Alexander Gustafsson
1.8
3,049
1/30/16
Anthony Johnson-Ryan Bader
1.6
2,685
       

SNOW FALL: Last weekend’s Winter X Games averaged 925,000 viewers across ESPN and ABC (four telecasts), marking the event’s smallest audience since ’04, when ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 aired eight telecasts for 825,000 viewers. This year’s Winter X Games are down 11% from 1.04 million viewers last year (five telecasts), and down 10% from 1.03 million viewers in ’14 (seven telecasts).

WINTER X GAMES VIEWERSHIP TREND
YEAR
NETWORKS
TELECASTS
VIEWERS (000)
'16
ESPN, ABC
4
925
'15
ESPN, ABC
5
1,042
'14
ESPN, ABC
7
1,032
'13
ESPN, ABC
9
1,065
'12
ESPN, ESPN2, ABC
11
1,280
'11
ESPN, ESPN2
8
998
'10
ESPN, ESPN2
8
1,188
'09
ESPN, ABC
11
1,398
'08
ESPN, ABC
11
1,336
'07
ESPN, ABC
9
1,135
       

SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST: The Big 12-SEC Challenge across ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU averaged 846,000 viewers this year, marking the three-year-old event’s biggest audience yet. This year’s series of games is up from 579,000 viewers last year and 525,000 viewers in ’14. Kansas' OT win over Kentucky last Saturday marked the event’s best single game audience to date, with 2.98 million viewers. The previous high was Texas-Kentucky from December ’14 with 2.13 million viewers. UK-KU also was WatchESPN’s third-best audience yet for a college basketball game.

NOTES: Fox on Saturday drew 468,000 viewers for Stuttgart-Hamburg, which was the first-ever live Bundesliga match on broadcst TV in the U.S. That figure also marks a record for any live Bundesliga match on U.S. TV.

The chart below lists select audience figures from recent sports telecasts.

TELECAST
DATE
NET
TIME (ET)
RAT.
VIEWERS
(000)
NFL Pro Bowl
1/31
ESPN
7:00-10:22pm
4.5
7,987
NBA: Spurs-Cavaliers
1/30
ABC
8:33-11:01pm
2.1
3,316
College basketball: Kentucky-Kansas
1/30
ESPN
7:06-9:42pm
1.8
2,984
NBA: Bulls-Clippers
1/31
ABC
3:30-6:00pm
1.9
2,886
"UFC on Fox 18":
Anthony Johnson d. Ryan Bader
1/30
Fox
8:00-10:04pm
1.6
2,685
PGA Tour: Farmers Insurance
Open: Final Round*
1/31
CBS
3:17-6:30pm
1.5
2,277
NBA: Mavericks-Warriors
1/27
ESPN
10:40pm-12:57am
n/a
2,092
College basketball: Maryland-Ohio State
1/31
CBS
1:00-3:17pm
1.4
2,070
"NBA Countdown"
1/30
ABC
8:00-8:33pm
1.2
1,773
College basketball: Oklahoma-LSU
1/30
ESPN
5:00-7:06pm
n/a
1,735
"Sunday NFL Countdown"
1/31
ESPN
5:02-7:00pm
n/a
1,726
Euro Figure Skating Championships (taped)
1/31
NBC
4:00-6:00pm
1.2
1,700
PBR: Anaheim Invitational
1/31
CBS
12:00-1:00pm
1.1
1,685
NHL All-Star Game
1/31
NBCSN
5:03-8:27pm
0.9
1,595
College basketball: Kansas-Iowa State
1/25
ESPN
9:03-10:55pm
n/a
1,566
NBA: Rockets-Spurs
1/27
ESPN
8:05-10:40pm
n/a
1,560
College basketball: Iowa-Maryland
1/28
ESPN
7:00-9:04pm
n/a
1,517
NBA: Spurs-Warriors
1/25
NBA TV
10:36pm-12:59am
n/a
1,442
PGA Tour: Farmers Insurance
Open: Third Round
1/30
CBS
3:02-6:00pm
1.0
1,404
Winter X Games
1/30
ABC
1:00-6:00pm
0.8
1,202
"Smucker's Skating Spectacular"
1/30
NBC
4:00-6:00pm
0.8
1,200
"Int'l Auto Show: Detroit"
1/31
NBC
3:00-4:00pm
0.8
1,200
College basketball: Virginia-Louisville
1/30
CBS
1:00-3:02pm
0.8
1,133
"NBA Countdown"
1/31
ABC
3:00-3:30pm
0.7
1,034
"Mecum Main Attractions"
1/31
NBC
2:00-3:00pm
0.7
1,000
"Cris Collinsworth 'SNF' Special"
1/31
NBC
1:00-2:00pm
0.7
956
Liga MX: Cruz Azul-Jaguares
1/30
Univision
5:55-8:00pm
0.5
943
College basketball: Villanova-St. John's
1/31
Fox
12:00-2:15pm
0.6
876
"Inside the Big East"
1/31
Fox
2:15-2:45pm
0.4
599
USSA Grand Prix:
Freeskiing Slopestyle (taped)
1/30
NBC
3:00-4:00pm
0.4
595
"Inside College Basketball"
1/30
CBS
12:00-1:00pm
0.4
582
"Red Bull Series: Frozen Rush"
1/30
NBC
1:30-3:00pm
0.4
549
"Fox College Hoops Tip-Off"
1/31
Fox
11:30am-12:00pm
0.4
524
"Bundesliga Match Day"
1/30
Fox
12:00-12:30pm
0.3
479
Bundesliga: Stuttgart-Hamburg
1/30
Fox
12:30-2:30pm
0.3
468
 

NOTES: * = Event had weather delays. Final round finishing Monday on Golf Channel and streaming on PGA Tour Live.

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