Walker

"EliteXC Rating a Disaster
by Michael Rome on Jul 27, 2008 5:40 PM EDT in News

I really loved last night's show live, and so did almost everyone else. Unforunately, it looks like nobody saw it:


That airing back on May 31, 2008 scored 4.3 million viewers and a 1.9/6 among 18-49 year olds and since the Kimbo Slice bout for that airing aired past primetime (11p) the most viewed portion wasn’t included. But lacking any Kimbo anticipation, last night’s fights pulled a mere 2.62 million and a 1.0/3 from 9pm-11pm.

A 1.0 rating on broadcast television on Saturday night is terrible. They won't be cancelled because the next show is Kimbo and Gina, but this is going to do a lot of damage to MMA's reputation at the networks in the long run.

Dana White is coming away from this whole thing smelling like roses. People bashed him for not getting this CBS deal, but he was clearly right not to put all the power in the hands of people that know nothing about MMA. I have a feeling this rating may hurt the UFC's chances at getting a deal."

From:
http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2008/7/27...ing-a-disaster

Here's the breakdown of the numbers:
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2008/07/27...d-no-kick/4547

No Bimbo no buzz. "America's most wanted" and "cops" beat a live event. That sucks.
I worked last night so I haven't gotten to see the whole event- I DVRed it and have only watched the Lawler fight. Tonight I'll be watching the whole event. From what I heard it was a pretty decent card and I thought the Lawler fight was very entertaining but that rating absolutely blows.

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stitch1z

I'm disappointed but not surprised. CBS hasn't pushed this event at all. Nobody knew about it.

I think it has something to do with not having a "Kimbo" or "Carano"on the card, but I think it had even more to do with half-hearted promotional efforts from EXC and CBS.

A few die-hards on this very forum forgot about this card.

Man, I'm pissed now. A great night of fights and hardly anyone saw it.

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Bonnar426

We also speculated, when we got the ratings for the first show, that the reason the numbers were so high was because people were just curious. Now that their curiosity is satified they probably had no real desire to watch it again! Sucks, but its possible!

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You forget that this isn't just some brutal sport where everyones out to kill each other. Its much more like a game of physical chess.-looney liam

Suvaco

Yep, I completely forgot about it until like 2 days before. Were the hell was the advertising?

stitch1z

I don't agree, but it is possible.

I really think it lies in bad promotion for the event. I mean, it's on CBS! CBS could have run plenty of promotion for the event. People would have watched. There's nothing on TV Saturday Night!

All I can imagine is that the first show was so embarassing that CBS may have wanted to test the new package before getting so many eyes on it like the first time. I mean, the backlash was pretty brutal. And you can't really get a 12-person test audience for a live event, so maybe they thought it would be best to test the new format on a smaller card that was still capable of getting some buzz going about these lesser known fighters.

But even most of the news sources are leaving this one alone. I've only seen one write-up today and it was from a local Stockton paper. WTF??? Like I said before, that's really disapointing.

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_RIVAL_

It honestly is half assed promotioning. The event wasn't pushed the way the first one was.

What's worse is I think that "Bigfoot" is alot more marketable that Kimbo is. Honestly an almost indestructable 6'4 Brazilian wrecking machine. If EliteXC would just push his image I'm sure he'd catch like wild fire amognst all fans, casual and hardcore. Because he is in fact the real deal.

Yet he hasn't gotten the flashing lights. They instead put him on Showtime. Why they have not accentuated his image like they have Kimbo's I can't understand. It honestly puts me at a loss.

One can only wish that they begin investing their efforts into the future fighters like Silva, Feijao, and the others who will actually perform on an elite level, instead of guys like Kimbo who will no doubt make asses out of themselves when tested by skilled contenders.

This I beleive is the complete reason why alot of fans look at EliteXC as a joke. Because outside of the UFC I can't find another org with a roster like EliteXC. Can any of you??

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stitch1z

I couldn't agree with this more.

I think his only hope is to be showcased on cross-promotions like Affliction. Unless EXC changes it's current business practices. They need to start trying to make stars out of thier fighters and stop looking for fighters to make stars out of them.

Last night's card was a perfect example. ALL of those fights were balls to the wall action that would appeal to the casual fan. But they were scared to even TRY to get people to watch because they had no marquee names. They let a great opportunity slip through their hands IMO.

I love the org and the fights they put on. I just wish they would focus on legit fighters more than just marketable names every time they want to make a statement.

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ezcw

Maybe people tuned into COPS and AMW in hopes of seeing Kimbo there since he was absent on the card.

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Hett

A great night of fights? Were you watching UFC and not CBS? Nick Thompson was a bum last night, Thomas Denny should never fight again and of course Lawler/Smith wasn't going to be as good this time.

And I can do without Shamrock's braces next time.

e-thug

The actual show wasnt too too bad, seemed like they were stalling for time between the Diaz fight and the main event.

The reason for such low numbers I think is too do with lack of advertising and the lack of "star" power. If I didnt go on my mmaplayground site I wouldve probably forgot about this event.