Ratings for 182 show putting a big star on prelims to increase buyrates is pure bs

Gigaton Punch

Gigaton Punch

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Everytime the UFC puts someone like Cruz or Faber on the prelims all we ever hear is this bs line that 'they're there to increase buyrates by attracting more viewers to the prelims' even though it is not at all based on reality.
http://www.mmaweekly.com/tv-ratings-for-ufc-182-prelims-make-it-second-most-watched-to-date-on-fs1

These prelims, which we're headlined by Danny Castillo vs. Paul Felder, an unpopular veteran, and a guy coming off of a fairly unimpressive UFC debut, drew the second highest rating since the UFC moved to FS1, behind the UFC 168 (Weidman vs. Silva II) prelims. While there is no buyrate yet, all trending patterns show that this was the most successful PPV since UFC 168. So, it appears what actually draws buyrates to the PPV and prelim ratings is just an interesting PPV main event.

Not that any of this really matters, but it shows that there is really no reason to be putting guys like Faber and Cruz on the prelims when there are worse fights on the PPV.
 
Maybe its because of all the publicity around Jones vs DC? Replace the main event by MM vs Cariaso and tell me about the prelims ratings of 182.
 
Good thread, it's an interesting discussion. Funny replies so far too. One down!

I do wonder though if it's not sometimes smart to put a Faber type guy on the undercard.

Obviously a great PPV generates views for the prelims, but a great prelim could just as feasibly generate buys for a PPV, especially one where the main card isn't a blockbuster.

I agree this shows that the biggest thing is a highly anticipated main event, and probably second is a solid rest of the card, but it can't hurt to have a quality fight on the prelims, especially if that card has a good chance of being exciting. If people tune into the prelims, see a great fight, a few could conceivably decide to buy a card they otherwise wouldn't have because the prelims put them in the mood for MMA.

I don't think this data supports your conclusion that putting a quality fight on the prelims to try to generate buys doesn't work.
 
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This card was going to sell anyways. There was a lot of buzz about it. Therefore a big draw on the undercard was not necessary to bring attention. The undercard benefitted from the main card.

When it is a weaker card, having a name fighter on the prelims will at least being some viewers to it and hopefully boost sales of the PPV.
 
Pretty interesting. That certainly killed a myth for good.
 
How about we just put them there so we don't have them spoiling the main card?
 
odog said:
This card was going to sell anyways. There was a lot of buzz about it. Therefore a big draw on the undercard was not necessary to bring attention. The undercard benefitted from the main card.

When it is a weaker card, having a name fighter on the prelims will at least being some viewers to it and hopefully boost sales of the PPV.
Click to expand...

The thing is they put Faber as the prelim headliner on already stacked cards or cards with a really anticipated main event.

They did with UFC 175 that had Ronda, Weidman, and Machida. Then once more with UFC 181 that had 2 title fights and a solid main card.
 
Felder has some hype behind him and Castillo was fairly well known. Felder landed dat bang bang.
 
Dart Feld said:
The thing is they put Faber as the prelim headliner on already stacked cards or cards with a really anticipated main event.

They did with UFC 175 that had Ronda, Weidman, and Machida. Then once more with UFC 181 that had 2 title fights and a solid main card.
Click to expand...

Sure, fair enough. But I'm sure a lot of it has to do with scheduling. Who is available for what card. They can't always stack cards exactly how they want. But I think that in general it makes more sense to have a decent name headline the prelims for a mediocre card. I can't say for certain that is their plan, but it makes a lot of sense to me.
 
Gigaton Punch said:
Everytime the UFC puts someone like Cruz or Faber on the prelims all we ever hear is this bs line that 'they're there to increase buyrates by attracting more viewers to the prelims' even though it is not at all based on reality.
http://www.mmaweekly.com/tv-ratings-for-ufc-182-prelims-make-it-second-most-watched-to-date-on-fs1

These prelims, which we're headlined by Danny Castillo vs. Paul Felder, an unpopular veteran, and a guy coming off of a fairly unimpressive UFC debut, drew the second highest rating since the UFC moved to FS1, behind the UFC 168 (Weidman vs. Silva II) prelims. While there is no buyrate yet, all trending patterns show that this was the most successful PPV since UFC 168. So, it appears what actually draws buyrates to the PPV and prelim ratings is just an interesting PPV main event.

Not that any of this really matters, but it shows that there is really no reason to be putting guys like Faber and Cruz on the prelims when there are worse fights on the PPV.
Click to expand...

So...

Why do you think the people with all of the pertinent data, and who stand to profit from the end result, choose this course of action?

I worked for an internet company and sat in on my share of marketing meetings; the executives who drove that department analyzed who bought what to the second and compared their various strategies. They had to explain performances and sell new strategies based on their findings.

I have to believe Zuffa has a marketing team doing this all day every day, with a SAS analyst crunching millions of data points.

As a consumer of their product I can sit back and say "that looked good" or "that seemed like a bad idea", but I don't have any of the data, and there is an unbelievable amount of data. I'd be very careful claiming I could do better without access to what they know and we don't, which is considerable.
 
Gigaton Punch said:
Everytime the UFC puts someone like Cruz or Faber on the prelims all we ever hear is this bs line that 'they're there to increase buyrates by attracting more viewers to the prelims' even though it is not at all based on reality.
http://www.mmaweekly.com/tv-ratings-for-ufc-182-prelims-make-it-second-most-watched-to-date-on-fs1

These prelims, which we're headlined by Danny Castillo vs. Paul Felder, an unpopular veteran, and a guy coming off of a fairly unimpressive UFC debut, drew the second highest rating since the UFC moved to FS1, behind the UFC 168 (Weidman vs. Silva II) prelims. While there is no buyrate yet, all trending patterns show that this was the most successful PPV since UFC 168. So, it appears what actually draws buyrates to the PPV and prelim ratings is just an interesting PPV main event.

Not that any of this really matters, but it shows that there is really no reason to be putting guys like Faber and Cruz on the prelims when there are worse fights on the PPV.
Click to expand...

Your logic is terrible, all this suggests is that a PPV can do well irrespective of who is on the prelims.

If you looked at say 25 PPV with big stars headlining the undercard and then 25 PPV with relatively unknown figthers on the undercard (and had somehow matched all the maincards so that they had a similar expected drawing power) and then saw no significant increase in buyrate from one group to the other THEN it would SUGGEST that putting big name fighters on the undercard does nothing to increase buyrate.

Philosophy bro, do you even do it.
 
I usually hear the popular guy on the prelims saying he wanted more TV exposure and wanted on the prelims.

I feel like prelims probably have a negligible effect on a buyrate. Most people either want to see a main and a co-main or they don't.
 
The success or failure of the strategy would lie more in the success or failure of the ppv relative to expectations, future ones, and UFC ratings on FS1.

The ratings of this particular prelims are more a reflection of the advanced hype for Cormier-Jones.
 
I thought it had more to do with Faber asking for it since it gave more exposure for his sponsors so he got more money.
 
Most likely it's Fox that requests decent fights on the prelims
 
Any word on the number of PPV buys?

Also UFC is dying.
 
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