This past week Spike TV offered up its final episode of the reality show Fight Master to improved ratings thanks to the DVR numbers.
According to Nielsen sources, Fight Master’s preliminary number for the tenth episode landed at 558k total viewers, thanks once again in-part to its new time-slot and lead-in show Impact Wrestling.
The updated number which now includes the DVR number brings the show up roughly 19% to 668k total viewers.
As a reminder, this adjustments was due to the live + 3 (DVR) numbers which will be released every Tuesday. For those new to Nielsen ratings terminology, live + 3 is a equal to a total of live viewership plus 3 days worth of DVR usage.
Overall, Fight Master averaged roughly 530k viewers during the live runs and 626k viewers when you add in the DVR numbers. The most successful show of the season was clearly episode three which hit over 676k total viewers live and 810k total viewers with DVR. I am not exactly sure what set episode three apart from the others, but that is reality television sometimes.
It should also be noted that when you compare the season average when the show was on Wednesday as compared to Thursday (after Impact Wrestling) the difference was only an increase of about 8% for live and 7% for DVR. So, one could argue, the move didn’t do much, but in reality the move was probably too late as reality shows typically peak early and not late. Just look at previous seasons of The Ultimate Fighter as a prime example.
Now, does this mean Fight Master was a bust? If you ask me, it depends. I truthfully didn’t think the show was going to do well over the summer anyways. The summer months are very difficult to pull in new audiences and if we compare these ratings to two other summer reality shows including The Hero on TNT and Capture on CW, Fight Master drew roughly 50% less than the Hero and 30% less than Capture which isn’t a total loss.
Sure, 50% and 30% are huge numbers in the world of television, but The Hero was sold as Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s reality show and cost TNT a ton more in marketing and advertising, while Capture is on a national network with reaches far beyond Spike TV. So my point here is this, the reality show that got the least amount of marketing and advertising, plus a time-slot switch mid-season still offered up ratings north of 500k total viewers, something FS1 primetime shows (besides the UFC) would kill for right now.
Lastly, Spike TV has cancelled shows with 30-40% higher ratings than Fight Master before, so it is safe to say this will be the one and only season of Fight Master. Truthfully, the more you look at it, Spike TV and Bellator gain nothing from offering up a second season of the show, but television has proven one thing, not every show dies a quick, painless death.
Stay with TheMMAReport.com for ongoing coverage of the Nielsen ratings battle between Bellator MMA and the UFC.