Though this season of TUF has been panned by most, this is the first season since season 3 not to suffer a significant decline from the season before.
Season 6 started strong at 1.5 coming off a highly watched Ultimate Fight Night, but quickly fell to the 1.0 range, and stayed at the 1.0-1.1 range for the rest of the season, with two episodes mid-season getting a 1.2 or slightly better.
Season 7 started at 1.3 coming off a disappointing Ultimate Fight Night rating, and quickly dropped down to the 1.0 range, and even dipped slightly below that number twice. However, the show has found its average at around the 1.0 mark, and this week rebounded to a 1.13, with 1.5 million viewers. There has been a slight decline overall, but ratings in the 18-34 demographic are up from last year, and DVR viewership is also slightly higher, which suggests the viewership may be about the same. The DVR numbers are only available for shows that have huge time shifting audiences like Lost and WWE Raw, so it’s hard to put a number on it, but everyone in television knows its up this year over last.
They have basically pulled flat ratings compared to last year, even going up against the most-watched NBA playoffs in years.
I’m not saying this in order to argue the TV situation for The UFC is fine. It isn’t, and they need to change things up soon. However, it’s not really the disaster that its being made out to be. The season can still be a big success if they promote Rampage and Forrest the right way in the final weeks leading into the show. I am hoping something big goes down between them on TUF, because all the hype before the show was that they had to be separated at one point, and if that was really just referencing the show where Forrest uses a net gun…well, it’s not enough.