Conor McGregor's Return Draws Nearly 16 Million Viewers

UFC 329, featuring Conor McGregor's highly anticipated return, drew viewership figures nearly on par with the record-setting UFC White House event, peaking at almost 16 million viewers.

While UFC 329 didn't quite surpass the UFC White House record, the numbers were remarkably close. On Thursday, Paramount+, the exclusive media partner for UFC, released viewership data for last weekend's major event, headlined by Conor McGregor's comeback after a five-year hiatus. According to Nielsen and Adobe Analytics, the fight night reached a total of 15.9 million viewers across the US and Latin America. This figure is only slightly lower than the White House event's achievement last month, which attracted 17 million viewers in the same markets.

UFC 329 also trailed the UFC White House in terms of average viewership, registering 6.5 million across both markets, compared to the previous event's 8.2 million in the same category.

However, UFC 329 did outperform the UFC White House in one key metric: concurrent live streams. During the event, these peaked at 8.3 million, whereas the UFC White House saw 7.9 million. This makes UFC 329 the second-largest live event in Paramount+'s history by concurrent streams, ranking just behind Super Bowl LVIII, which drew 11.5 million.

Although UFC 329 didn't break the UFC White House's records in most categories, the event is still considered an undeniable success, especially when compared to other major UFC fight nights from the past. For instance, the first UFC event aired on Fox, headlined by the heavyweight title bout between Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos, averaged 5.7 million viewers in the US and peaked at 8.8 million.

It's important to note that viewer interest typically peaks during the main event. The highly anticipated rematch between Conor McGregor and Max Holloway 2 lasted only 69 seconds after McGregor sustained an injury almost immediately. Additionally, UFC 329 took place concurrently with the World Cup quarter-final match between Argentina and Switzerland, which may have also impacted the final viewership figures.