Under the auspices of Mixed Martial Arts, the Ultimate Fighting Championship for SpikeTV (VIA-B), along with its competitors, has been drawing a surprisingly strong, young male audience.
The partnership between SpikeTV and Ultimate Fighting Championship owner Zuffa, is the undisputed leader in the category, drawing unexpectedly large audience since its beginning in June 2004, where the reality TV series "The Ultimate Fighter" launched, featuring contestants from the UFC.
For the reality series alone, the first five seasons have drawn about 93 million viewers. That doesn't include the significant audiences that watch the 20 plus yearky live fights offered by the channel.
To get these numbers and draw advertisers, the industry had to implement rules that made it more palatable to general audiences. While the no-rules strategy worked to get the hardcore viewer, it didn't work for those a little more squeamish about what they want to see in this area.
For an idea on how successful they're becoming, in the 18-34 male demographic, seven live UFC fights in 2007 have drawn an average of 869,000, that's 143 percent more than the playoffs for the National Basketball Association drew for ESPN (DIS).
With the early reputation of the fights, the network has had to work hard to make money off their numbers. To that end, they've developed a three-man sales force which focuses on convincing potential advertisers of the validity of the market.
“We're consistently trying to [promote] the UFC as a good vehicle to get in front of a young male audience and we thought we had to make a concentrated effort on selling it,” says Jeff Lucas, executive VP of MTV Networks brands, which includes Spike.
Their strategy is to bring possible clients to live events to see them first hand, to make decisions based on where things are at now, rather than where they used to be. They also get them together with the fighters to get to know them, along with the usual wining and dining.
With their initial success with the Ultimate Fighting Championship, SpikeTV has built a network of new shows off of it to tap into its popularity. They've scheduled a reality competition called Pros vs Joes, the scripted "The Kill Point," and extended their deal with TNA Entertainment for the series iMPACT!, which centers on Total Nonstop Action wrestling.
Over the last month, their strategy has been succeeding, as 25 new advertisers have joined the existing ones. Categories specifically interested in advertising with the genre are beverages, fast food, video games and music services.
Spike is looking over its shoulder though, as its success had drawn the attention of sports tv competitors like Versus, Fox Sports Net and Showtime, among others, which have their own growing success with their Mixed Martial Arts competitions.
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