UFC 247 Prelims Draw Big Numbers
The UFC 247 prelims on ESPN last weekend did big numbers.
As per MMA Fighting, it drew an average of 1,491,000 viewers, which as they note, is a historically high figure.
The first prelim fight featuring a women’s flyweight bout between Andrea Lee and Lauren Murphy notably drew 2,074,000 viewers, making it one of the highest-watched bouts before a main card.
However, one reason for this is because of the lead-in from the Duke vs. North Carolina game. Over 2.6 million viewers were tuned for the college basketball game which eventually went into overtime, causing the prelims to start at 8:52 p.m. rather than the scheduled 8 p.m. time.
With the UFC 247 prelims starting right after, it benefited from the large college basketball audience who remained on ESPN.
That said, the show would have likely still done good numbers given that it was a pay-per-view event with two title fights, the main one headlined by Jon Jones. MMA Fighting adds that the event did a total of 2.1 million Google searches which is significantly more than the average UFC pay-per-view.
What do you make of the UFC 247 prelim numbers?
