Would you have taken figure skater Ashley Wagner over UFC fighter Anthony Johnson last Saturday night? In the arena of TV ratings, that would have been a smart bet as NBC’s coverage of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships defeated UFC on FOX in overnight ratings for Jan. 24.
According to Sports Media Watch, NBC drew a 2.3 rating for the ladies’ free skate, in which Wagner beat out Gracie Gold for the gold medal. In the same time slot, FOX notched a 2.0 rating for the UFC event, headlined by Johnson beating Alexander Gustafsson in the main event. This is the second consecutive year that figure skating beat UFC head-to-head in overnight ratings.
Overall, FOX’s 2.0 rating was down slightly from the 2.1 mark its UFC coverage drew last year. But it’s a 23 percent decrease from the 2.6 rating that the network got in 2013. However, a closer look at the numbers yields some good news for FOX. The UFC event drew a 1.1 rating in the 18-49 demographic, which is surely more important to both FOX and UFC. (By comparison, figure skating drew an 0.5 number in that demographic.)
Despite the victory, ratings for NBC’s figure skating coverage were actually down compared to last year. The U.S. Figure Skating Championships drew a 3.0 rating a year ago, making for a 23 percent drop.
There aren’t too many casual sports fans who would consider figure skating to be a consistently more popular draw than UFC with the buzz surrounding the two sports. Truthfully, the two sports are marketed towards widely different demographics, and it shows just how wide-ranging sports ratings can be.
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