Just saw that Ali Spinks 2 was watched by 90 millions americans (that's superbowl numbers) and that.it is estimated that 2 billions watched worthwhile (probably inflated but still). Makes me wonder if boxing missee the boat with PPV. Id wonder how much money they could get from such a big fight from network/cable tv
It is a difficult question for sure. I thought about this same as I recently read Roone Arledge's memoir. He talked a lot about producing sports, but not that much about boxing. I believe boxing is more star-driven sport than most. Ali's or Tyson's fights would still draw enormous crowds, but boxing as a TV product isn't as good. If you have relatively unknown fighters, the aesthetics of the sport itself doesn't fascinate that many people. Another thing is boxing's schedule, which doesn't exist. The advertisers would need clear and regular dates for the fights to happen. In boxing there are plenty of postponements compared to any team sport, which is a problem for the channels. Furthermore, a local study here showed that boxing fans are keen, but that the sport also divides people. If a channel takes up boxing, it will get boxing fans to follow, but "regulars" don't order a channel because of boxing. Also, the keen boxing fans are more ready to pay extra, compared to most sports. Few want to pay extra bucks for seeing a single basketball game Thus, in a business sense, making fans pay separately for each fight is the most profitable model. The segment of the people watching is very clean-lined, which is exactly what the advertisers want
Boxing thrived for years on network TV, like ABC's Wide World of Sports. As PPVs became more prevalent, the sport became more exclusive - those two trends clearly coincide. Speaking for myself, I'd be much more inclined to tolerate the prevalence of PPVs if they weren't so damn expensive. Instead of trying to encourage more people to buy the events with lower prices, promoters just want to squeeze as much money as possible out of each individual buy. I'd be much more willing to purchase PPVs if they cost between $20-$40 (like they used to) instead of $80-100 like they currently are. As it is, I've only purchased a single PPV in the past 5-6 years (Pacquiao-Thurman, because it was so historic).
PPV makes sense in the short term but it might in fact hurts the sport in the long run imo. Is it really a coincidence that the sport has became more more marginalized since they have became widespread ?? And as boxing is so decentralized and has no organisation with a long term vision, the sport's mantra has basically been to pimp the fans as much as possible and get the quick bucks. This doesn't translate to a dedicated nor growing fanbase. Furthermore, contrary to other major sports, since it's mostly the fighters, and not the sport, that is promoted, most casual boxing fans are in fact fans of specific boxers, not of the sport itself.
Ali-Spinks happened when the US had 12 TV channels (three that actually mattered.) Many Americans still had only three channels. And it goes without saying, no internet, no VCRs. You could watch TV, break out the projector and watch home movies, or sit in a chair and read a book. So most watched TV and had three choices of what to watch. These days people are all over the place. 300 channels on digital cable plus three or four streaming services.
There are 5 boxing ppvs from June 27th to July 19. 3 on dazn who's introductory motto was no more ppv Wilder Herndon Paul chavez jr Bumlanga sheeraz Dubious usyk 2 Pacquiao barrios
@ Least with Turki, His PRICE POINTS Are Such to Make You CONSIDER Ordering His PPV's, if You Have NATHAN Better to Do That Afternoon/Evening... Wilder vs Herndon (Who the Fuck Is Herndon?) on PPV is Fucking DISGRACEFUL...If Wilder-Helenius Did 100k PPV Buys, Wilder-Herndon MIGHT Do 25K...MIGHT!!!!... The Rest of Those PPV's Have TRACES of Intrigue and/or Decent Undercards, if NATHAN Else... REED
FYI... Streaming, Buffering Specifically, Has Made REED Appreciate PPV More Than Ever Before... "Only" Missing a "Couple" Rounds of an Anticipated Bout is NOT How Shit was Intended to Be, So REED GLADLY Pays PPV Rates for Certain Fights, KNOWING He'll See the FULL UNINTERRUPTED Broadcast, in Good Quality... Fuck Streaming.... Literally, REED Missed the 1st 2-3 Rounds of Tyson-Paul...Mike STUMBLED Walking to the Ring and Then REED Didn't See SHIT Until the END of Round 2 or 3....REED Also Recalls Missing Several Rounds of Spence-Danny Garcia...Again, FUCK STREAMING (Until REED Asks His Fighbeat Brethren for the Hook-Up)... REED
Glad you realized it. Yeah, its always a better idea to actually order than stream. If I wanna watch a fight badly enough, I'll just order it. Yeah, its $80-$100, but... I've wasted that kind of money on dumb shit I dont even like. If I dont wanna watch a fight, I dont just watch. No stream, no ordering, no nothing. If it ends up being good, I dont sweat it, cause it'll be uploaded to YT within a few hours anyway. Illegal streaming is so overrated. Yeah, you might find the odd stream that has zero issues, but in my experience, the vast majority experience lags and it just doesn't make sense. If there's a fight you wanna see, just fucking buy it imo. Its $80, its not a mortgage payment you're coughing up.
Unless you still pay for hard wired cable or direct tv you're still streaming it I've ordered before from that ppv.com and had similar issues as pirate streams
REED's Been a DishNetwork Customer for 15-20+ Years...Never Had an Issue Watching a Fight... Been a DAZN and ESPN+ Customer for 5+ Years...The BIGGER the DAZN Fight Is, the MORE Likely They Are to Have Buffering Issues...Funny, NOT Funny...ESPN+ Never Buffers During Early AM Inoue or Nakatani Bouts, Yet REED Recalls Such Issues w/UFC PPV's Here and There.... REED
I had direct tv for a while when it first came out for nfl Then tried dishnet and it was just terrible. Buffering worse than Bruce's sportcoats. Went back to direct tv for a good while, maybe 6 or 8 years ago I just cancelled all that shit Seems like if you have a strong internet connection that's most important. I was doing big fight parties for a good decade stretch so I'd order even mediocre matchups based on interest level just to get the chance to gather all the homies I did actually order that bivol beterbiev ppv just to show support to the cause hut prior to that I hadn't ordered shit in years
90 million in 1978 is damn near half the population at the time if not more. Those are unreal numbers.
