A convenient follow-up to Monday’s thirty second ad spot prices article, Loretta Hunt and Sherdog.com spoke with CBS in regards to the state of their advertising spots for the up-coming November 7th show featuring Fedor Emelianenko:
Kelly Kahl, executive vice president for primetime programming, said the addition of Fedor Emelianenko has certainly sweetened the deal in advertiser interest for Strikeforce “Fedor vs. Rogers” on Nov. 7, the network’s first live MMA event telecast in over a year.
“I think (Fedor) made it a lot easier for our sales guys and our sales are going very, very well for this fight,” said Kahl. “To be able walk in with a presentation and show Fedor shows a credibility and it speaks volumes to have a world-class fighter and maybe the best in the world. I think it certainly made it an easier sell than maybe we’ve had in the past.”
Kahl said movies studios, automobile purveyors, and video game companies are among those that have bought commercial slots.
“EA Sports is unveiling a preview of their MMA game in this fight exclusively,” said Kahl. “In terms of getting mainstream sports reporters interested, Fedor gives us the credibility that maybe we didn’t have before. It alerts a lot of people who maybe didn’t know who Kimbo Slice is, but they certainly know who Fedor is.”
Payout Perspective:
It’s interesting that Kahl seems to believe that Fedor is a bigger name than Kimbo Slice in terms of mainstream awareness. There’s a strong case to be made for the opposite.
Though, regardless of your position on the marketability of Fedor and Kimbo , the hype behind Fedor as the best heavyweight in the world is probably what’s bringing people to the table. Nothing stirs up the fight crowd like a dominant heavyweight; add in the mystery and intrigue surrounding Fedor, and he does have a degree of potential that many companies are likely looking to capitalize on.
Kahl said movies studios, automobile purveyors, and video game companies are among those that have bought commercial slots.
This is very key. Also, it will bode incredibly well for Strikeforce having a huge sponsor like EA Sports backing them up through that event. Video game fans and MMA fans will turn to that event just to see the first video footage of EA Sports MMA. Rockstar, and FullTilt Poker will also benefit. The question is how many new sponsors can they pull in, like Burger King, etc.
Folks did not know who Kimbo was, but know Fedor??
Outside of the hard core MMA community, nobody knows Fedor.
To me it makes sense: Fedor is becoming more widely recognised. I think the rhetoric that no-one knows about Fedor outside hardcore mma fans is wearing a little thin by now. There has been enough marketing and publicity of Fedor — bizarely enough, thanks to the words of Dana White — to have advertisers take notice. There are few other mma fighters that have been featured in Time magazine, for example, and even fewer who have consistently received positive or favourable profiles in mainstream media outlets when they have been featured. I would just like to point out that without Dana White’s continuing cat and mouse game with Fedor, there may have been much less incentive for mainstream companies to sponsor the event.
I think that right now, Fedor is definitely NOT bigger name than Kimbo. (Noone is :). But I must disagree with Jeremy. Fedor’s name is already bigger than just hard-core fans. I would say he is known for all MMA community, not just hardcore. Whoever checks MMA news once in a while (and not every day like hardcores) knows about Fedor, because his “Dana wants him in UFC and he signed in Strikeforce instedad” stint is impossible to miss and 2 Affliction events with him also helped.
His name recognition is continually going up and CBS event should be a huge jump.