In an effort to combat a German television ban, UFC UK president Martin Zelanik announced that the UFC will offer its German fans the opportunity to watch UFC 122 on the web.
In March, the Bavarian state office for new media withdrew its approval to broadcast UFC programming.
Via MMA Junkie:
Fans can now watch UFC 122 on popular German sports website Spox.com, as well as the fight promotion’s own German-language website.
Despite the tv ban and protests about mixed martial arts, the UFC believes UFC 122 will be a successful show. According to Zelanik:
“We had a very successful event last June in Cologne,” Zelanik said. “The fights came off well. We turned the media as a result of that event in some fashion. We haven’t had near the misinformation that was out there. So I think those things, along with the continued traffic we have to our website – just the emails we get from people, and then obviously the ticket sales. I think it really speaks loudly that the reason that we’re putting the effort into Germany is (that it’s) going to be rewarded at some point.”
Payout Perspective:
This is a great example of the UFC working around a barrier to entry. With an event in Germany next week, the UFC wants to promote its product to the German people although local television stations are not carrying UFC 122.
Offering UFC 122 online for free serves several purposes:
- It will increase web traffic to the German version of the UFC website.
- Through the web, more German fans will have the opportunity to watch the UFC product and build a German fan base.
- The online presence facilitates the UFC strategy of growth through international expansion.
By partnering with Spox.com and offering UFC 122 for free, the UFC hopes that German fans will enjoy the fights and crave for more. Continual presence of the UFC product will educate opposition and create a fan base. Thus, when the UFC comes back to Germany, more fans will lobby that UFC is shown on television.
The UFC’s web strategy shows the company’s forward thinking in using new media to promote its product.
5.500 tickets have been sold thus far. Sentiment in German MMA-forums is very anti-UFC 122 because of the lackluster quality of the card. UFC 99 offered a far better deal for the same ticket prices. That’s the cardinal error: When going to a new market, offering a nice package the first time around, you have to maintain that quality for the 2nd show. People get used to quality and will expect no less in the future. Even without pulling out Belfort, this card would have been Fight Night quality.
In Germany (or pretty much anywhere for that matter) you got two kinds of MMA-fans:
1. drunken idiots
That category wants to see blood, sloppy striking and no ground game. The UFC caters to them by making fights with striking focus (Sakara-Rivera etc.). However, even those people need at least one familiar face in the main event. Rich Franklin and Wanderlei Silva were familiar, even to the drunken idiots. Had they put a Forrest Griffin, Chuck Liddell or even Ken Shamrock and Tank Abbott in the main event, those “fans” would have been happy.
2. hardcore fans
You’d expect them to come regardless, just out of sheer gratitude that they can finally watch a live UFC-event. Well, that might have worked, but we already had that last year. So the novelty has worn off. I keep reading lots of comments on forum that fans won’t come for this card. They cite ticket prices, travel and accomodation expenses. I could have even gone for free (work related) and still won’t show up. There is so much quality MMA going on these days. I’m not even sure I’ll watch it via free UFC-livestream. Maybe I’ll just tune in to laugh about the empty ranks.