Exciting UFC Light Heavyweight Battle & MLB Division Leaders Push FS1 To No. 1 Saturday Evening
The FOX SPORTS 1 UFC FIGHT NIGHT featuring an exciting battle between top-ranked light heavyweights, combined with a baseball doubleheader featuring National League division leaders, pushed FOX Sports 1 to the top spot among all ad-supported cable sports networks from 4:00 PM ET to 2:00 AM ET on Saturday, Aug. 8, as the network averaged 697,000 viewers over that span. In addition, UFC FIGHT NIGHT PRELIMS Saturday evening (8:00 – 10:00 PM ET) set a viewership record on FOX Sports 2 with 306,000 viewers to rank as the most-watched UFC Prelims in the network’s history and fourth most-watched telecast since the net’s launch.
The UFC FIGHT NIGHT: TEIXEIRA VS. SAINT PREUX headliner on FOX Sports 1 peaked with 1,356,000 viewers watching No. 4-ranked light heavyweight Glover Teixeira’s submission victory over No. 6-ranked Ovince Saint Preux in the 12:45 – 1:00 AM ET quarter hour. The entire main card on FOX Sports 1 (10:00 PM – 1:00 AM ET) averaged 1,159,000 total viewers and scored 684,000 in the A18-49 category, making it the sixth most-watched UFC FIGHT NIGHT in FOX Sports 1 history in both categories. It was the network’s most-watched show of the day.
FOX SPORTS LIVE followed UFC FIGHT NIGHT at 1:00 AM ET, leading with extensive postfight coverage, and tallied increases of +51% on viewership (392,000 vs. 260,000) and +38% on A18-49 (239,000 vs. 173,000) compared to its Aug ’14 average in the Saturday 1:00 – 2:00 AM ET window.
Earlier in the day, in the 4:00 PM ET window, the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers 6-5 in a game that averaged 516,000 viewers and 152,000 in A18-49, up +34% on viewership (vs. 386,000) and +42% on A18-49 (vs. 107,000) compared to last year’s non-exclusive game average.
Following that game, the NL Central-leading St. Louis Cardinals’ 3-0 shutout of the Milwaukee Brewers delivered 519,000 viewers, up +34% from last year’s non-exclusive average. Among A18-49, it tallied 175,000 viewers, a +64% rise above last year’s non-exclusive average.
