First things first. All the sports blogs are reporting how well Saturday Night Fights did, but it sure seems to me that they're just regurgitating CBS' press release. As one source put it "The debut of Elitecx Saturday Night Fights on CBS averaged 4.30 million viewers from 9-11 p.m., with a first-place finish among adults 18-49 (1.9 rating/6 share), adults 25-54 (1.9/ 6), adults 18-34 (1.9/ 7), men 18-49 (2.5/ 8), men 25-54 (2.6/ 8) and men 18-34 (2.6/10) from 9-11 p.m. Compared to regularly scheduled program in the block this season, that was an improvement of 36 percent among adults 18-49 (from a 1.4/ 4) and as much as a whopping 271 percent among men 18-34 (from a 0.7/ 3)."
Regularly scheduled programming is a pretty vague term. What are we talking about here? Here's the schedule of what's been on from 9-11 pm Eastern on Saturday nights on CBS.
Date
9-10
10-11
5/24
M: Vinegar Hill
48 Hours
5/17
CSI: NY ®
48 Hours ®
5/10
Criminal Minds ®
48 Hours
5/3
48 Hours
48 Hours
4/26
CSI: NY ®
48 Hours
4/19
48 Hours
48 Hours
4/12
48 Hours
48 Hours
4/5
NCAA Basketball
NCAA Basketball
3/29
NCAA Basketball
NCAA Basketball
3/22
NCAA Basketball
NCAA Basketball
3/15
Criminal Minds ®
48 Hours
3/8
48 Hours
48 Hours
3/1
M: Secondhand Lions
48 Hours
2/23
48 Hours ®
48 Hours ®
2/16
48 Hours ®
48 Hours
2/9
48 Hours ®
48 Hours
2/2
48 Hours ®
48 Hours
1/26
48 Hours
48 Hours
1/19
M: Runaway Jury
48 Hours
1/12
NFL Playoffs
NFL Playoffs
1/5
M: High Crimes
48 Hours
12/29
NFL Regular Season
NFL Regular Season
12/22
M: Elf
48 Hours ®
12/15
M: The Notebook
M: The Notebook
12/8
NCIS ®
48 Hours
12/1
M: Jesse Stone
48 Hours
11/24
CSI: NY ®
48 Hours ®
11/17
CSI ®
48 Hours
11/10
Criminal Minds ®
48 Hours
11/3
CSI ®
48 Hours ®
I'm sure that they're not talking about the NCAA Basketball games, which did a 4.5, 3.5, and 3.3 among adults 18-49. They're probably also not talking about the NFL games, which scored a 9.8 and a 4.5 among adults 18-49. So they're saying that it outrated a bunch of reruns from 9-10 (and a few movies), and then 48 Hours. 48 Hours survives because the old people like it. Even so, Saturday episodes of it average a 7.7 household rating, a 3.0 18-49 rating, and about 10 million viewers. So Saturday Night Fights had 33% less 18-49 year olds (of both genders), and 60% less total viewers. I'm told that the show gained viewers each half hour, but it still sounds like a loser to me.
Show
Network
Date
Rat
18R
Lost
ABC
THU
7.3
4.9
Hell's Kitchen
FOX
TUE
5.6
4.4
So You Think You Can Dance? (THU)
FOX
THU
5.9
3.6
So You Think You Can Dance? (WED)
FOX
WED
5.8
3.6
The Moment of Truth
FOX
TUE
4.6
3.1
Supernanny
ABC
WED
4.4
2.6
48 Hours: Mystery (TUE)
ABC
TUE
5.9
2.3
Million Dollar Password
CBS
SUN
6.8
2.2
Wife Swap
ABC
WED
4.1
2.2
Dateline NBC (Sunday)
NBC
SUN
5.4
2.1
The Bachelor/The Bachelorette
ABC
MON
4.0
2.0
EliteXC Saturday Night Fights
CBS
SAT
X
1.9
American Gladiators
NBC
MON
3.1
1.9
NHL Stanley Cup Game 3
NBC
WED
2.9
1.9
Most Outrageous Moments
NBC
TUE
3.9
1.8
According to Jim
ABC
TUE
3.4
1.8
Last Comic Standing
NBC
THU
2.9
1.8
Dateline NBC (Friday)
NBC
FRI
4.4
1.7
America's Most Wanted
FOX
SAT
3.4
1.7
NHL Stanley Cup Game 4
NBC
SAT
X
1.6
20/20
ABC
FRI
3.8
1.6
Men in Trees
ABC
WED
3.7
1.6
Dateline NBC (MON)
NBC
MON
3.5
1.6
60 Minutes
CBS
SUN
6.7
1.5
Cops
FOX
SAT
2.5
1.4
Scripps National Spelling Bee
ABC
FRI
X
1.1
Movie: The Rookie
ABC
SAT
X
1.1
WWE Friday Night Smackdown!
CW
FRI
2.2
1.1
Farmer Wants A Wife
CW
WED
1.8
1.1
Movie: Little Black Book
FOX
FRI
X
0.9
THIS WEEK IN TV MONDAY-ABC sees The Bachelorette move up an hour sooner, to 8 pm Eastern. That is followed up by The Mole. NBC airs Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals. TUESDAY-There are new episodes of Most Outrageous Moments(NBC), The Moment of Truth(FOX), 48 Hours Mystery(CBS), and Hell's Kitchem(FOX). WEDNESDAY-We've got new episodes of Men In Trees(ABC), Farmer Wants A Wife(CW), and So You Think You Can Dance?(FOX). If necessary, NBC will air Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals. THURSDAY-ABC's got a special entitled Jimmy Kimmel Live: Game Night followed by Game 1 of the NBA Finals. On CBS, we've got the premiere of Swingtown at 10 pm Eastern. You may recall that this is show about a couple that moves into a neighberhood and discovers their neighbors are swingers. On FOX there's So You Think You Can Dance?, where they'll pick the top 20. And NBC has a new Last Comic Standing, as well as the premiere of Fear Itself. You may also recall that this is a horror anthology. FRIDAY-ABC has a new 20/20, CW has the requisite Friday Night Smackdown, FOX airs White Chicks, that movie with the Wayans Brothers, and NBC has a new Dateline NBC. SATURDAY-You have two very different movies to choose from. ABC airs Finding Nemo, CBS has the original made-for-tv movie Sybil (as you might expect, it's about a woman with associative identity disorder [which you may know as multiple personality disorder]). Otherwise there are new episodes of Cops and America's Most Wanted, and if necessary, NBC will have Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. SUNDAY-ABC once again has Jimmy Kimmel Live: Game Night, followed by NBA Countdown, followed by Game 2 of the NBA Finals. CBS has a new 60 Minutes and a new Million Dollar Password (featuring Rosie O'Donnell and Tony Hawk). NBC has a new Dateline NBC.
Not an MMA fan, but it's a victory for the industry to attract that crowd - and get the type of press they are - airing on CBS. When you're not (if I know what I think I know) the elite brand in your industry. In a time slot that nothing except the NFL and NCAA usually get decent ratings. Did they pull XFL debut type numbers? No, but they didn't have the build-up that debacle did. And I don't think they'll fall off to the level that the XFL did, either. Losing to 48 Hours is nothing to write home about, but it's an established brand with a longtime viewership that aims to spend the evening in the recliner relaxing with the remote. MMA's fans are more likely to go out and do something on a Saturday night.
The bigger question is whether they can retain and build with future showings.
Oh, believe me, I'm not saying that MMA (or even EliteXC) is hopeless, or even that those in the industry shouldn't be excited about the rating. I mean, it did .3 better among 18-49 year olds than Game 4 of the Stanley Cup that was airing at the same time. That probably says more about the state of the NHL than it does anything else.
Rather, I was seeing sites (like Awful Announcing, for example, posting headlines like "CBS' Saturday Night MMA Broadcast Draws Huge Ratings", which I have trouble believing anyone in the know could say with a straight face. It was 4.3 million viewers. WWE Raw did about 4.5 million viewers on cable, where viewership is much lower. Comparing apples to apples, it did about half the viewers that NASCAR and the Preakness Stakes did (the other two sporting events that have aired on Saturdays within the last month). To me it looks like the kind of programming that networks put on in the summer when they don't really care about ratings. But we'll see. And PeterStork is right. The next one airs at the end of July. If it can improve on the ratings, then maybe we can start calling it a success.
Originally posted by Mr. BoffoOh, believe me, I'm not saying that MMA (or even EliteXC) is hopeless, or even that those in the industry shouldn't be excited about the rating. I mean, it did .3 better among 18-49 year olds than Game 4 of the Stanley Cup that was airing at the same time. That probably says more about the state of the NHL than it does anything else.
Rather, I was seeing sites (like Awful Announcing, for example, posting headlines like "CBS' Saturday Night MMA Broadcast Draws Huge Ratings", which I have trouble believing anyone in the know could say with a straight face. It was 4.3 million viewers. WWE Raw did about 4.5 million viewers on cable, where viewership is much lower. Comparing apples to apples, it did about half the viewers that NASCAR and the Preakness Stakes did (the other two sporting events that have aired on Saturdays within the last month). To me it looks like the kind of programming that networks put on in the summer when they don't really care about ratings. But we'll see. And PeterStork is right. The next one airs at the end of July. If it can improve on the ratings, then maybe we can start calling it a success.
The July show has already been cancelled. I don't think they wanted to try and run a show likely without either of their "stars" (Kimbo or Gina). I think Frank Shamrock won't be healthy by then either.
I'm late to this thread, but please allow me to nitpick:
1. Thanks to a press release that came out after the thread started (and which can be found at cbspressexpress.com) the highest ratings for the show came between 11:00 and 11:51, which fall outside your discussion. This kinda makes it...well, a little disingenuous to be kind. (Granted, this is more the blame of whoever at CBS and/or Showtime thought it would be a good idea to begin the show with an hour of no fighting, not to mention schedule the highest rated portion of the show outside the prime time sampling period.)
I was super confused because I turned the show on an hour late and still saw all three fights in the cable box description for the show. I figured somehow we had miscalculated the tape delay.
CBS says 6.51 million viewers for Slice/Thompson. What was the last WWE main event to get close to that?
(There's a lovely grid of half hour ratings in that press release as well.)
The other encouraging sign is that the ratings grew consistently from beginning to end...even long after everybody's bedtime.
2. "48 Hours" hasn't aired on CBS for years; it's "48 Hours Mystery." (I know you know that.)
Originally posted by Mr. BoffoEven so, Saturday episodes of (48 Hours) average a 7.7 household rating, a 3.0 18-49 rating, and about 10 million viewers. So Saturday Night Fights had 33% less 18-49 year olds (of both genders), and 60% less total viewers. I'm told that the show gained viewers each half hour, but it still sounds like a loser to me.
That's just untrue. That show - on Saturday - never came close to hitting 7.7 (3.0 Adults 18-49), let alone averaging out to those numbers. From your own table (The W), the show averaged 4.1 (1.6 A 18-49) for the whole season. So we know that - even in primetime - EXC had more A 18-49 (if we're comparing to 48 Hours).
Which brings me to my second point...
Originally posted by CRZThanks to a press release that came out after the thread started (and which can be found at cbspressexpress.com) the highest ratings for the show came between 11:00 and 11:51, which fall outside your discussion. This kinda makes it...well, a little disingenuous to be kind. (Granted, this is more the blame of whoever at CBS and/or Showtime thought it would be a good idea to begin the show with an hour of no fighting, not to mention schedule the highest rated portion of the show outside the prime time sampling period.)
That's kinda the whole point. The network wanted a *primetime* success, otherwise they would have aired the entire show late night. The show *did* have some success during primetime. It could have been much more but for the stupidity of the network, as you mentioned. The next airing should be a bigger primetime winner. The viewership growth predicts as much.
Originally posted by CRZCBS says 6.51 million viewers for Slice/Thompson. What was the last WWE main event to get close to that?
I sort of see the point that regardless of getting 6.51 million viewers, it didn't matter because it was two hours later and they could've gotten more had it been on earlier.
However, I think you're looking at this all wrong. It's MMA, a sporting event. It's not an hour-long drama or anything. This is something that people expect to go slightly later into the evening, as fight fans (both MMA and Boxing) are conditioned to expect a 9pm or 10pm start for an event.
And a lot of viewing will be done out at bars. There's also the chance you catch older folks coming back IN for the evening as well. So really, the growth throughout the program makes sense as does their decision to air it when they did.
Besides: 1. The Prime Time slot you're proposing is too close to "family hour". Hence CBS not airing any fights in the first hour (that's my theory anyway). 2. It's Saturday night. Prime Time doesn't mean anything on Saturday nights. Hasn't the historically highest rated show on Saturday nights been that one that airs at 11:35pm on NBC?
(edited by Deputy Marshall on 5.6.08 1447)
(edited by Deputy Marshall on 5.6.08 1448) KevinMarshallOnline.com - Blog, podcasts, and more!
Originally posted by Mr Shh That's just untrue. That show - on Saturday - never came close to hitting 7.7 (3.0 Adults 18-49), let alone averaging out to those numbers. From your own table (The W), the show averaged 4.1 (1.6 A 18-49) for the whole season. So we know that - even in primetime - EXC had more A 18-49 (if we're comparing to 48 Hours).
You're correct. A mistake in my spreadsheet lead to me quoting the wrong numbers. I am extremely embarassed and sorry for the mistake. It was not my intentiont to mislead anyone. EXC did .3 higher than the average new episode of 48 Hours Mystery among 18-49 year olds. As such I've adjusted my opinion on it from "not a hit" to "not enough information to tell." Even 6.5 million viewers is not very good for network television. But ideally I'd like to compare it with other shows that air on Saturday nights, but because the networks hardly put anything on Saturday nights, it's impossible to tell. My main point was really to combat the overwhelmingly positive spin put on it by CBS, using numbers to compare it to things that it had no right to be compared to.
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