UFC Continues to Grow Fuel TV’s Audience

It became evident right away that a big part of Fox’s strategy in partnering with the Ultimate Fighting Championship was to grow is struggling action sports brand, Fuel TV.

That strategy has been paying off big for Fox as Fuel TV in July took another leap forward in its growth.

“Fuel TV’s summer ratings sizzled in July, as the network recorded its most-watched month ever, according to Nielsen Media Research,” read a prepared statement from Fuel TV on Monday.

“Other ratings records set in the month included Fuel TV having its second most-watched prime time, its third most-watched day and three of its four most-watched weeks.”

While numbers such as 211,000 viewers for UFC on Fuel TV 4 on July 11 may not sound all that eye-opening to most people, who are used to seeing UFC viewership well over a million, Fuel and Fox executives couldn’t be more pleased since they were once struggling with ratings that measured in the tens of thousands on a good day.

“We put up stellar numbers with our live Fight Night for UFC on Fuel TV: Munoz vs. Weidman,” said George Greenberg, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Fuel TV. “Throughout July, Fuel TV saw numerous shows put up all-time high ratings, including our news show ‘UFC Tonight,’ which has really found its audience. We’re excited to see viewers continue to find and watch other shows on Fuel TV.”

Fuel TV July 2012 Audience Highlights:

– July 2012 is the network’s most-watched month ever, surpassing June 2012;

– July 2012 was up +180% in Total Viewers and +300% in M18-49 vs. July 2011;

– Prime time finished up +238% in Total Viewers and +200% in M18-49 vs. July 2011;

– Live UFC Fight Night on FUEL TV on Wednesday, July 11 was the network’s third most-watched program ever with 211,000 Total Viewers;

– UFC Fight Night on FUEL TV viewership peaked from 10:30 PM ET – 10:45 PM ET with 291,000 Total Viewers

– Wednesday, July 11 ranked as FUEL TV’s second most-watched prime time and third most-watched day in network history;

– For the first seven months of 2012, prime time viewership is +164% over 2011;

– Since January 1, the network’s total day viewership is up +110% compared to 2011;

Fuel TV’s growth has been built on the back of its UFC programming. When the UFC and Fox partnership was first announced, Fuel TV had committed to 2,000-plus hours of UFC programming for 2012. With the success of the initial programming, they have already surpassed that promise, currently totaling 2,276 hours of UFC programs so far this year. That number includes 480 hours of UFC programming in July alone.

As Fuel TV continues to grow its audience, it appears it will also continue to grow the amount of UFC programming on the network.

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