Fedor vs. Rogers: Payout Perspective
Welcome to another edition of Payout Perspective:
This week we’ll be taking a look at Strikeforce’s debut on CBS Primetime held this past Saturday, November 7th outside of Chicago, Illinois at the Sears Centre. The evening featured a heavyweight clash between Fedor Emelianenko and Brett Rogers, but also notable appearances from Jake Shields, Jason Miller, and Gegard Mousasi.
The Numbers
Attendance and Gate
TBA
Television Ratings
Robert Seidman of TVbytheNumbers reports on the preliminary television ratings for the event:
CBS SATURDAY NIGHT FIGHTS (S) was first in adults 18-49 (1.7/05), adults 18-34 (1.7/06), men 25-54 (2.4/07), men 18-49 (2.3/07), men 18-34 (2.2/08), tied for first in adults 25-54 (1.7/05 with both NBC and ABC) and third in both households (2.3/04) and viewers (3.79m).
Compared to the 9:00-11:00PM season-to-date averages (CRIMETIME SATURDAY and 48 HOURS MYSTERY), CBS SATURDAY NIGHT FIGHTS was up +31% in adults 18-49 (from 1.3/04), +113% in adults 18-34 (from 0.8/03), +100% in men 25-54 (from 1.2/03), +156% in men 18-49 (from 0.9/03), +267% in men 18-34 (from 0.6/02), even in adults 25-54, down -44% in households (from 4.1/08) and lost -2.33m viewers (from 6.12m, -38%).
Half-hour increments:
9:00 p.m. – Viewers: 3.50 million (#4), A18-49: 1.5/ 5 (#3)
9:30 p.m. – Viewers: 3.53 million (#4), A18-49: 1.6/ 5 (#2)
10:00 p.m. – Viewers: 4.12 million (#3), A18-49: 1.9/ 6 (#1)
10:30 p.m. – Viewers: 4.01 million (#3), A18-49: 1.8/ 6 (#1)
The ratings do not reflect the last 30 minutes of the event, which are likely to be the strongest on account of the main event taking place at that time (traditionally the ratings for live sports events always build as the time slot progresses). It’s expected that the full ratings results will be available by Tuesday.
Disclosed Fighter Payouts
Illinois has not traditionally released this information.
Business Storylines
Fedor delivers devastating finish: While Fedor may not have performed like the invincible Russian terminator that CBS/Showtime and Strikeforce hyped him to be – Rogers broke his nose with the first punch of the fight - Fedor did deliver with a devastating right hand to end the bout. The ending of the fight shouldn’t be overlooked, especially from a business perspective, for the following reasons:
1.) Strikeforce, Showtime, and CBS have all invested a lot of money in Fedor and the M-1 partnership. The contingent has essentially directed their ship with Fedor at the helm, and if he had faltered it wouldn’t have been good for any of them. Fedor needed to deliver in order to fulfill on his promise and justify that investment.
2.) The abrupt and violent ending of the main event put a stamp on the card and gave it some definition in the mind of the consumer – especially for the casual fans. It helped to erase the memory of the five round wrestling match that was Shields-Miller and even the early fight performance of Fedor in which he looked quite human.
What happened to Miller vs. Davis?: The fight was seemingly cancelled at the last minute due to timing constraints. Reserve judgement until all of the facts come out, but it’s never a good situation when a fight is cancelled 5 minutes before the fighters are set to hit the cage. There may be some legal ramifications, here.
Event hampered by poor production and commentary:It may not have been CBS’s first foray into the MMA world, but the network clearly needs to work on improving the way they film the action, switch between the cameras, and how they call the events in general. The audience probably spent 10-15% of each round looking at the back of an official or a zoomed head shot that didn’t reveal any action. Anyone that switched over to watch the UFC Main Event programming afterward would have noticed an immediate and very large difference.
Fedor vs. Rogers commercial spots sold out: It was revealed earlier this week that CBS managed to sell all of the commercial slots for the primetime event. The expectation was that a heavy portion of the viewership would be comprised of the 18-34 demographic and the advertisements throughout the show largely reflected this. Here’s a list of most of the commercials seen during the 9-11 slot on the West Coast:
- Video games: GTA, DJ Hero, Band Hero, Assassin’s Creed 2, Borderlands, and EA MMA
- Movie ads The 4th kind, Paranormal Activity, 2012, G.I. Joe
- U.S. Navy
- Duralast batteries
- HDNet
- Degree deodorant
- Burger King
- Castrol
- Full Tilt Poker
- Flomax
- Viagra
Interestingly, right before the Fedor fight, there was a string of commercials that probably lasted 7-8 minutes. That segment likely provided the greatest value for advertisers as the viewing audience was at its peak and no one was willing to leave their seats prior to the main event.
Strikeforce provides decent night of entertainment: It wasn’t an amazing card, but all things considered it should be seen as a step in the right direction for MMA: Fedor ultimately delivered, no one got hurt or stepped out of line, and generally it was solid demonstration of the sport.
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