The Fox broadcast network aired its final UFC telecast on Saturday night, averaging 1.8 million viewers for a card headlined by Al Iaquinta’s win over Kevin Lee. That figure is the lowest for any December UFC telecast on Fox, which dates back to ’12. UFC had 31 total telecasts on Fox, and nothing approached the 5.7 million viewers for the first one (which was only a one-hour event compared to over two hours for each subsequent telecast). Only four UFC/Fox telecasts drew over 4 million viewers, and none since early in ’13. UFC media rights move over to ESPN starting in ’19.
|
MOST-WATCHED UFC TELECASTS ON FOX (ALL SATURDAY NIGHTS)
|
|
DATE
|
HEADLINE FIGHT
|
VIEWERS (000)
|
|
11/12/11
|
Junior Dos Santos-Cain Velasquez
|
5,675
|
|
01/28/12
|
Rashad Evans-Phil Davis
|
4,661
|
|
12/08/12
|
Benson Henderson-Nate Diaz
|
4,392
|
|
01/26/13
|
Demetrious Johnson-John Dodson
|
4,219
|
|
04/20/13
|
Benson Henderson-Gilbert Melendez
|
3,742
|
ALL AMERICA: Univision on Sunday averaged 2.5 million viewers for Club America’s win in the Liga MX Apertura championship (second leg) over Cruz Azul, marking the second-best soccer audience for ’18 in the U.S. outside of several FIFA World Cup matches this summer. That also is up slightly from the 2.4 million viewers that Univision drew for Tigres-Chivas in the Apertura finale last year.
GROUP HUG: With the UEFA Champions League swapping media partners this year, Univision’s networks (Univision, UniMas, Univision Deportes and Galavision) finished with the best group stage viewership ever on U.S. TV, regardless of language. Liverpool's match with Paris Saint-Germain on Sept. 18 led the way with 675,000 viewers on Univision/UDN, marking the most-watched group stage match ever in the U.S. Meanwhile, TNT for its matches drew the best English-language UCL group stage on record. The net averaged 190,000 viewers for 24 live games, up from 112,000 viewers for 26 games on FS1/FS2 last year.
NOTES: ABC drew 3.3 million viewers for Fresno State’s win over Arizona State in the Mitsubishi Motors Las Vegas Bowl on Saturday afternoon, down 12% from Boise State-Oregon last year….NBC’s taped coverage on Sunday of the final round of the PNC Father/Son Challenge was down 20%....YES Net last night drew a 1.4 local rating in N.Y. for Lakers-Nets, which is the RSN's best Nets game since Cavaliers-Nets drew a 1.6 rating on December 8, 2014.
The chart below lists final audience figures for select recent sports telecasts.
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RAT.
|
VIEWERS
(000)
|
| NFL: Patriots-Steelers (98%) |
12/16
|
CBS
|
4:25-7:30pm
|
14.2
|
24,566
|
| NFL: (singleheader) |
12/16
|
Fox
|
1:03-4:05pm
|
11.7
|
20,028
|
| "SNF": Eagles-Rams |
12/16
|
NBC
|
8:23-11:37pm
|
10.8
|
18,121
|
| "TNF": Chargers-Chiefs |
12/13
|
Fox/NFL Net
|
8:23-11:36pm
|
10.5
|
17,408
|
| "MNF": Vikings-Seahawks |
12/10
|
ESPN
|
8:13-11:15pm
|
6.9
|
11,633
|
| NFL: (regional) |
12/16
|
CBS
|
1:03-4:15pm
|
6.5
|
11,049
|
| "Football Night in America" |
12/16
|
NBC
|
7:30-8:14pm
|
4.8
|
8,196
|
| NFL: Browns-Broncos |
12/15
|
NFL Net
|
8:23-11:28pm
|
4.2
|
7,292
|
| "Fox NFL Sunday" |
12/16
|
Fox
|
12:00-1:03pm
|
3.5
|
5,270
|
| NFL: Texans-Jets |
12/15
|
NFL Net
|
4:31-7:40pm
|
2.9
|
4,762
|
Mitsubishi Motors Las Vegas Bowl:
Fresno State-Arizona State |
12/15
|
ABC
|
3:35-7:00pm
|
2.3
|
3,334
|
| "The NFL Today" |
12/16
|
CBS
|
12:00-1:00pm
|
2.0
|
3,050
|
Liga MX: Apertura Championship:
Club America-Cruz Azul: Leg 2 |
12/16
|
Univision
|
7:23-9:49pm
|
1.2
|
2,547
|
Air Force Reserve Celebration Bowl:
N.C. A&T-Alcorn State |
12/15
|
ABC
|
12:01-3:35pm
|
1.6
|
2,345
|
Liga MX: Apertura Championship:
Club America-Cruz Azul: Leg 1 |
12/13
|
Univision
|
9:24-11:36pm
|
1.1
|
2,277
|
| "Red Bull Signature Series" |
12/16
|
Fox
|
4:30-6:00pm
|
1.4
|
2,187
|
| NBA: Raptors-Warriors |
12/12
|
ESPN
|
10:45pm-12:53am
|
1.3
|
2,009
|
| UFC on Fox 31: Al Iaquinta d. Kevin Lee |
12/15
|
Fox
|
8:00-10:35pm
|
1.1
|
1,828
|
| NBA: Thunder-Pelicans |
12/12
|
ESPN
|
8:12-10:45pm
|
1.1
|
1,730
|
| College basketball: Gonzaga-North Carolina |
12/15
|
ESPN2
|
7:03-9:05pm
|
0.8
|
1,466
|
| "Fox NFL Kickoff" |
12/16
|
Fox
|
11:00am-12:00pm
|
1.0
|
1,411
|
| College basketball: Villanova-Kansas |
12/15
|
ESPN
|
12:00-2:19pm
|
1.0
|
1,386
|
College basketball: Indiana-Butler
(Crossroads Classic) |
12/15
|
CBS
|
4:04-6:00pm
|
0.9
|
1,371
|
R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl:
Appalachian State-Middle Tennessee |
12/15
|
ESPN
|
9:00pm-12:10am
|
0.8
|
1,371
|
| NBA: Lakers-Rockets |
12/13
|
TNT
|
8:14-10:46pm
|
0.8
|
1,323
|
| NBA: Thunder-Nuggets |
12/14
|
ESPN
|
10:10pm-12:34am
|
0.9
|
1,299
|
College basketball: Notre Dame-Purdue
(Crossroads Classic) |
12/15
|
CBS
|
1:30-3:30pm
|
0.7
|
951
|
| Golf: PNC Father/Son Challenge (taped) |
12/15
|
NBC
|
3:00-6:00pm
|
0.6
|
920
|
| Golf: PNC Father/Son Challenge (taped) |
12/16
|
NBC
|
3:00-6:00pm
|
0.6
|
825
|
| EPL: West Ham-Fulham |
12/15
|
NBC
|
12:30-2:30pm
|
0.5
|
636
|
| "World of X Games" |
12/16
|
ABC
|
3:30-4:00pm
|
0.3
|
321
|
| "Always Late with Katie Nolan" |
12/16
|
ABC
|
4:00-5:00pm
|
0.2
|
312
|
| "World of X Games" |
12/16
|
ABC
|
3:00-3:30pm
|
0.2
|
306
|
