Paramount is touting the success of UFC 329 despite last Saturday’s main event generating such a negative response.
The return of Conor McGregor after five years resulted in a 69-second contest, ending prematurely when McGregor sustained an injury immediately, and the fight with Max Holloway was waved off by official Mike Beltran.
McGregor’s return was a controversial one, showing a dichotomy with major swaths of Irish fans rejecting the former two-division champion after he was found civilly liable in a case where he was accused of raping Nikita Hand. The charges did not generate anywhere near the same backlash in the U.S., where McGregor’s return was generally welcomed by the audience and led to a record-setting gate of $26.4 million for the UFC at the T-Mobile Arena.
In its press release, Paramount stated that the main card of the July 11 event averaged 6.1 million viewers in the United States and 400,000 in Latin America, based on Nielsen “live streaming custom analysis” with a one-minute qualifier, which is not expanded on in the press release.
To compare, Paramount released that Freedom 250 averaged 7 million viewers in the U.S. and 1.2 million in Latin America.
The Netflix card in May featuring Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano averaged 9.3 million viewers in the U.S. and 12.4 million globally, using VideoAmp rather than Nielsen to tabulate. The platforms differ, as Netflix has approximately 325 million subscribers worldwide, and Paramount+ has approximately 79 million.
It also stated that UFC 329 set a record for the promotion with 8.3 million concurrent streams on Paramount+, where the event streamed exclusively. It surpassed the previous mark of 7.9 million concurrent streams for UFC Freedom 250 at the White House and 5.93 million for the debut event in January.
The topline data point Paramount is promoting, and most are running with, is 15.9 million “viewers reached” in the U.S. and Latin America. The number would be reached based on people who watched at least one minute of the broadcast rather than a traditional average viewership, which is how it’s typically reported, but this is the game all the streamers are playing, and most accept the inflated figures at face value.
For UFC 329, CBS did not air any of the fights, unlike past numbered events this year. Instead, it aired a one-hour program dedicated to the ceremonial weigh-ins last Friday, averaging 887,000 viewers and 0.14 in the 18-49 demographic.
