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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Strikeforce on CBS drew the third highest rating for a mixed martial arts event on the network, bringing an average of just over 4 million viewers to the two hour timeslot and peaking with 5.46 million viewers for the 11:00-11:15 slot featuring Fedor Emelianenko's victory over Brett Rogers. It was lower than both EliteXC events featuring Kimbo Slice and Gina Carano last year, but still a good rating for Strikeforce in their CBS debut.
With that being said, the numbers are not breathtaking and have already received criticism in some areas and downright vitriol from, you guessed it, UFC President Dana White. In a story by Dave Meltzer at Yahoo! Sports, White is quoted saying, "CBS made its biggest mistake partnering with a tiny, small show with a roster no one cares about. Just because you read on MMA.TV that someone is a superstar doesn’t make it true. This should prove that no one out there gives a [expletive] about Fedor. We’re pulling those numbers on Spike. I mean, how the [expletive] is what they did considered any good in any way, shape or form? What kind of numbers do you think we would pull with a live show on CBS? I’ll tell you. Huge. It would be significantly, significantly more than what they got with these idiots from Showtime."
White also questioned whether Brett Rogers would last more than two minutes against multiple UFC fighters.
Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker didn't understand why White and the UFC wouldn't be happy with the rating, as he felt everyone doing well simply helped the sport overall.
So the question becomes, while the fight itself reached more eyes than probably should have been expected considering Fedor's past numbers on U.S. events, was this admittedly good number of viewers good enough for Strikeforce and CBS? It's a tough question to answer, because the reality is while the bout had the ninth most viewers in U.S. television history, the event as a whole was still well under the normal viewership for CBS in that timeslot.
The numbers were up in the key MMA demos of men 18-34 and men 18-49, but that rise didn't make up for the loss of viewers in other demographics. Also, while 5.46 million tuned in for the Fedor vs. Rogers fight itself, that number is a bit misleading. Those viewers didn't tune in when the bout was supposed to take place in the last 20 minutes of the two hour timeslot, and it was such an increase from the two hour event itself that most of the viewers tuning in at that time were likely looking for their nightly news. They stuck around and watched the fight, sure, but they weren't there for the remainder of the event and don't mean enough in the long run to CBS execs or advertisers who did not benefit from that increase in viewership.
Fedor's next fight for Strikeforce will have a lot more initial interest than this bout did, but it may not end up taking place on CBS. As of yet, there's no news as to if this show was successful enough to bring a green light for another Strikeforce event on CBS. And if and when that next event takes place, because of the way this first show was sold, Fedor may be the only fighter that will bring in close to that number a second time unless Gina Carano is also on the card. They just haven't built anyone else up enough at this point to put together a really strong draw for CBS the next time out, at least not yet.
And in some ways Dana White is right, because the UFC would pull blockbuster numbers on network television even without their top, top stars; and if Brock Lesnar was in a main event on network television I guarantee it hits ten million viewers, easy. The UFC brand and marketing leading the charge on a network, which is how a deal would have to work for them and one of the reasons they have not appeared on network TV as of yet, would drive more viewers to a Fight Night type card, and a full on pay-per-view worthy card on CBS would have every UFC fan tuning in.
Strikeforce brought in an amicable rating for what could have been expected from them, but it's not set in stone that they'll get another crack at the network spotlight, either. If they don't, it may be another case of a promotion putting the majority of their eggs into one basket and falling short again. The numbers look good, but again the fact is they've still only succeeded in making Fedor a much larger draw and Brett Rogers a much more respected heavyweight. Whether any of that translates into success for they themselves down the road still remains to be seen.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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