This isn’t recent news – somehow it slipped past me and the rest of the community last Fall – but according to an ESPN Sports Poll, mixed martial arts was the only sport in North America to grow in fan avidity over 2009. The size of the sport’s overall fan base increased by approximately 4%, while the number of avid fans increased by approximately 6%. No other sport experienced growth in both its overall fan base and its avid fan base.
In fact, MMA seems to have fared very well in all fan base metrics. The sport grew in terms of fan intensity (avid fans as a percentage of overall fans) – one of only a handful of sports to do so. Plus, when asked “are you more or less interested in the sport this year compared to last year,” nearly 75% of respondents indicated greater interest (compared to only 25% that said less). The only other sports to generate an increase in fans were the NFL and NCAA Football, but neither increased by more than a few percentage points.
Payout Perspective:
The poll certainly confirms what we all expected: that 2009 was an incredible year for the sport of mixed martial arts in North America. Not only did the UFC sell a record number of PPVs in 2009, but it also broke its own live gate record and sold over 3.5 million copies of its video game (all, of course, in the context of an economic operating environment that was far from favorable for anyone, in any industry). Then, add to that the unparalleled growth in its fan base that the UFC experienced.
It was a tremendous year.
Now, fast forward to today and we see that the UFC will likely break its PPV totals for the third consecutive year (with the possibility it does so not just on account of having more events, but on account of those events averaging a higher overall buyrate than last year’s shows). Despite its slow start, the UFC is only 300k behind its 2009 PPV totals at this point in the year (and $2 million ahead of last year’s gate total):
2009, January – May: 2.9 million buys on 5 PPVs
2010, January – May: 2.6 million buys on 6 PPVs
The expected +700k buyrate for Saturday’s card will push this year’s total well beyond the 2009 mark. Setting aside the uncertainty of UFC 115 (my own prediction is likely ~400k) and we move onto a strong summer schedule of UFC 116: Lesnar Carwin, a stacked UFC 117, and UFC 118: Couture vs. Toney.
All the people that were so quick to predict the UFC has peaked might want to revise that statement; especially considering the organization has yet to put together a consistent year (imagine if the injuries hadn’t derailed last year’s hot start or slowed the UFC coming out of the gates in 2009).
—-
The Sports Business Journal held its 2009 Sports Business Awards last week and I’m really not sure how you can objectively keep the UFC, at the very least, off the list of nominees for best sports league (which included NFL, MLB, NBA, and Professional Bull Riding).
All very good information.
The number that caught me by surprise was the UFC only being 300k off last years PPV total at this same time. Based on all the articles I read saying how bad things were I would have guessed they were way off the pace to beat last year.
Mane if all those injurys wouldn’t have happend then mane I would like to know what the ppv #s would be damn only 300k off ufc 114 116 117 118 I think ufc will beat there record for last year mane it will keep getting bigger and bigger like dana says in the world ufc is bigger than the nfl but in the us no way not right now
‘mane’?
The average buys for a ppv is down a 24%, from a 2009 average of 580,000 buys per show to the current 433,000. That is a pretty sizeable downturn, which I think will be corrected in the coming months with the return of Brock. The secret (which isn’t much of a secret) to the UFC’s surge in ppv buys in 2008 and 2009 is Brock.
The average buys for a ppv is down a 24%, from a 2009 average of 580,000 buys per show to the current 433,000. That is a pretty sizeable downturn, which I think will be corrected in the coming months with the return of Brock. The secret (which isn’t much of a secret) to the UFC’s surge in ppv buys in 2008 and 2009 is Brock.
With all things considered, this is great news for the UFC. In the current economic situation to be able to grow at this rate is impressive.