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Mon Nov 09, 2009 4:45 pm EST

Strikeforce ratings solid: CBS glad to be rid of EliteXC and Kimbo

By Steve Cofield

The early ratings return for the CBS' fourth mixed martial arts show on network television are solid. According to MMAJunkie:

Preliminary ratings for "Fedor vs. Rogers" put the average audience at 3.79 million viewers for the 9-11 p.m. timeslot. However, because the event ran over its allotted two-hour timeslot, the numbers doesn't include the Emelianenko vs. Rogers fight, when ratings surely peaked for the broadcast.

Fedor's first exposure in the U.S. did fall short of internet sensation Kimbo Slice's fights:

CBS sets the bar in May 2008 with its debut MMA broadcast, "EliteXC: Heat," which scored 4.85 million viewers (but peaked with 6.51 million for the Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson vs. James Thompson main event). After a flop with "EliteXC: Unfinished Business" two months later (2.6 million viewers), the final of its three EliteXC broadcasts, "EliteXC: Heat," drew 4.56 viewers in October 2008.

CBS senior VP Kelly Kahl suggested to the Las Vegas Review-Journal before the event that he was pleased the card was built around a more established fighter like Fedor versus Kimbo:

"First and foremost, the level of talent we have on this card far surpasses anything we had (before)," said Kelly Kahl, the senior executive vice president of prime-time programming for CBS. "We had some great fighters the first time through, but when you look at the talent level, starting with Fedor, it speaks for itself."

Kahl went to take another shot at Kimbo, who is now being pushed heavily on the UFC's realiy show "The Ultimate Fighter" and rumored to be part of the Dec. 5 TUF 10 Finale on Spike. 

"I don't think there's any question as to Fedor's legitimacy," Kahl said. "There's nobody that questions how good he is. When it became apparent that we could probably get Fedor to headline the first show back, it kind of fell into place," he said. "Having the number-one fighter on the number-one network had a nice ring to it."

It'll be interesting see if the numbers for Fedor-Rogers jumped into the 5-6 million range after 11 p.m. ET. CBS can take all the shots it wants at Kimbo, he did haul in over six million viewers for his mid-week fight on Spike in October. Of course the network can also say it was instrumental in building Kimbo's name in 2007 and 2008. Fedor's second go around on network television should bring in much bigger numbers in 2010. CBS now has a highlight reel knockout it can build on.

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112 Comments

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  1. BearDown
    1. Posted by BearDown Mon Nov 09, 2009 5:04 pm EST

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    Good card....Yes. Needed more fights though in my opinion but on a free primetime network I can understand the increased time would have cost far too much money.
  2. Clifford J
    2. Posted by Clifford J Mon Nov 09, 2009 5:06 pm EST

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    Those numbers don't look good to me at all. Disappointing. It was a very solid card with some very solid fighters and some very solid fights (the Miller/Shields snoozefest notwithstanding). Hopefully CBS sticks with Strikeforce and they keep doing all right.
    What does it say about MMA fans that six million watch Kimbo/Nelson but not even four will watch Fedor/Rogers? Esp. when the latter fight is on a channel available to more viewers? I've got nothing against Kimbo, I root for him as much as the next guy, but man.
  3. Clifford J
    3. Posted by Clifford J Mon Nov 09, 2009 5:07 pm EST

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    Edit: I realize the final numbers for Fedor's fight aren't yet since it was after 11 PM. So I guess we'll see.
  4. Chocolat
    4. Posted by Chocolat Mon Nov 09, 2009 5:13 pm EST

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    You know as good as it is that Strikeforce had good ratings and all, it's a bit disheartening that more people still tune in for Kimbo than for Fedor. I'm not a Kimbo basher by any means, but Fedor has been at it longer, and has been far more impressive in his fights. I kind of compare them to GSP and Lesnar, again while I am no Lesnar basher, GSP is the guy who has done it longer, had better competition, show far more skills technically, but it's that hype train that really pulls in the numbers.
  5. bullseye2
    5. Posted by bullseye2 Mon Nov 09, 2009 5:13 pm EST

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    just a question here how come the Yahoo MMA section is titled UFC?
  6. Chocolat
    6. Posted by Chocolat Mon Nov 09, 2009 5:14 pm EST

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    I don't think those are bad numbers at all, have you ever seen the normal saturday night ratings numbers?
  7. swrestler
    7. Posted by swrestler Mon Nov 09, 2009 5:16 pm EST

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    I am sure the numbers will be more, this will solidify Strikeforce on CBS. Anything over 3 million is good. People are obviously tuning in to watch MMA, not just Fedor... This means the other cards will get decent hits even without Fedor, and Fedor an be the main headliner twice a year...
  8. Steven W
    8. Posted by Steven W Mon Nov 09, 2009 5:18 pm EST

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    wow beardown.....a name i haven't seen around here in awhile
  9. Matt M
    9. Posted by Matt M Mon Nov 09, 2009 5:19 pm EST

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    Clifford - Those aren't bad numbers. Cofield is actually right (believe it or not), those are solid numbers. And we'll see what the numbers are for the Fedor fight.
  10. swrestler
    10. Posted by swrestler Mon Nov 09, 2009 5:19 pm EST

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    bullseye2,
    it used to say MMA. But they changed it this summer to UFC. Kind of bias right? This board is filled with bias UFC fans who listen to everything the UFC tells them, hence the name change...
  11. Peter D
    11. Posted by Peter D Mon Nov 09, 2009 5:22 pm EST

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    did anyone see Rapsutin congratulating Fedor? and hear the piece about Fedor thanking all the ORTHODOX chrisitians. great translator he had
  12. Patrón
    12. Posted by Patrón Mon Nov 09, 2009 5:25 pm EST

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    #5, good luck finding that out, I've been asking for months. Dana must be paying somebody at yahoo, and sleeping with Kevin lole
  13. BearDown
    13. Posted by BearDown Mon Nov 09, 2009 5:26 pm EST

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    I think people tune in to see Kimbo because they like his "story" and pull for him to succeed (not to mention the power of social media). I like the fact that this card was on CBS and StrikeForce has ShowTime backing. It really beats paying PPV money. It would be great to see the UFC get together with HBO and/or show more cards on Spike for free so MMA can grow.
  14. Matt M
    14. Posted by Matt M Mon Nov 09, 2009 5:27 pm EST

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    Peter D - lol Yeah Fedor's entourage will probably soon be filled with Orthodox priests and monks. Just adds to the mystique.
  15. colin c
    15. Posted by colin c Mon Nov 09, 2009 5:28 pm EST

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    Agreed, building the card around better talent is good. still not a fan of the card though.
    Also who did not see CBS taking shots at Kimbo?? they kinda have no choice at this point.
  16. BearDown
    16. Posted by BearDown Mon Nov 09, 2009 5:28 pm EST

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    Steven W........ been here but waiting for quality blogs to post on.
  17. swrestler
    17. Posted by swrestler Mon Nov 09, 2009 5:42 pm EST

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    I want to say that when this StrikeForce/CBS card came out a few months ago, a lot of UFC fanlickers were predicting its quick demise (horrible ratings). From these early numbers, it is clear that this show was a success (for Saturday night, a rating above 2.8 million is respectable).
    This blog doesn’t even show the “peak” numbers which were obviously during the Fedor fight. So the night was a success. A 3.79 is a very respectable number for Saturday night, which is usually a dead audience. Not to mention, that StrikeForce probably has a very modest deal with CBS…meaning that CBS is probably paying StrikeForce peanuts for airing these shows. This fact just means that CBS is getting an even greater deal with these types of numbers…
    CBS is obviously happy with MMA. And with these numbers, CBS is getting a great deal for the right price. So for all you fanlickers who predicted this shows demise… prepare for future StrikeForce events on CBS.
  18. Steven W
    18. Posted by Steven W Mon Nov 09, 2009 5:52 pm EST

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    beardown.....and you chose this one? LOL, just kidding. i know what you mean though, thinking of pulling a jd salinger myself....concerning this site that is
  19. Sandman
    19. Posted by Sandman Mon Nov 09, 2009 5:57 pm EST

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    It was a good show, and refreshing! I hope Strikeforce acquires enough good fighters to have at least 4 solid cards per year (or more). Good Job! (I hope White is freaking out about now.)
  20. colin c
    20. Posted by colin c Mon Nov 09, 2009 6:05 pm EST

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    @swrestler - I do not recall a ton of quick demise/bad ratings comments. I think most see it as how will strikeforce be able to keep it up? they have the same issue XC had. they do not have a talent pool deep enough to do quarterly shows and the drop off will be rapid. They still walked out of this show with one marketable name in the roster and he has a potentially broken hand and is known to only fight 1-2 times a year.
    the question now is are they going to start over paying people to deepen the pool and become financially unstable?
  21. jayyolf1
    21. Posted by jayyolf1 Mon Nov 09, 2009 6:06 pm EST

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    I can just see Dana Whites reaction: "we pulled more [expletive] numbers with [expletive] Kimbo on [expletive] Spike" never realizing that he is going to shoot himself in the foot with real MMA fans by using Kimbo as his example. I'm curious to see what the final tally is going to be on the numbers, especially at the peak time, AND after factoring in all the DVR viewings. I bet Dana is $h!tting himself imagining what kind of numbers CBS is gonna get for the second Fedor event, now that people know who Fedor is, AND now that they have that highlight reel KO to promote it!!!! LOL!!!
  22. Tom
    22. Posted by Tom Mon Nov 09, 2009 6:16 pm EST

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    i cant wait for Fedor's next fight, I heard he will now be taking on a former Costco employee!
  23. Diego d
    23. Posted by Diego d Mon Nov 09, 2009 6:45 pm EST

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    I'm pissed the event ran over the time limit. I recorded fights on my DVR and the last thing I got to see was Shields vs. Miller. I don't really care about ratings or how many people got to see the fight. I only care about the fact that I didn't get to see the fight because CBS didn't pace things well. To top things off, I'm on the west coast where the fights were shown on a two hour delay... and despite the extra time to edit out promos or extra commentary CBS still ran over the time.
  24. DCwhiteowl
    24. Posted by DCwhiteowl Mon Nov 09, 2009 7:02 pm EST

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    My question is how come we had to watch miller come in with the stupid girls on the side but didn't get to watch the MAIN EVENT fighters walk in? Im assuming because they wanted to get the commercials in but com' on. Was i only 1 disappointed about this?
  25. swrestler
    25. Posted by swrestler Mon Nov 09, 2009 7:27 pm EST

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    colin c,
    I hear what you are saying, especially about the money. But I disagree on the talent pool. Their talent pool is deep enough for 4 CBS shows a year.

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