Fight week is becoming increasingly more important for the UFC as it tries to move beyond its stable base of hardcore fans and into the mainstream PPV market. This is generally because the casual viewers that occasionally buy a UFC card are often only persuaded at the last minute (i.e., a few days out from the bout). Moreover, there’s an element of competition involved: there’s a lot of message clutter out there in the consumer space and sometimes potential viewers ignore many of the messages they see or simply forget what they’ve already seen due to the sheer volume of incoming marketing communications.
I’m not sure that we’ve seen as much fight week promo out of the UFC as we have in the past. The UFC put far more effort into pushing UFC 114, for example, than it has UFC 116. However, I think that’s simply a function of the organization believing it might not have to invest at the same level in order to get a great result. The fight product this time – Lesnar vs. Carwin – essentially sells itself.
Nonetheless, it’s fair to say the organization has still put in an above average promo effort into this fight. Here’s a look at some of the things I’ve noticed in the last few days:
- Countdown to UFC 116: the show debuted on Monday at 11PM and did 612,000 viewers. If you recall, Countdown to UFC 100 did over 1 million viewers, but I’m not convinced this is any sort of serious flag.
- ESPN Sportcenter coverage: Shane Carwin was featured on the morning news broadcast earlier in the week and it’s likely that Lesnar will also make an appearance.
- The Jim Rome Show: Brock Lesnar also took some time out of his schedule to talk on Jim Rome’s radio talk show.
- MMA Live on ESPN2: it’s really no surprise that ESPN2 extended the length of its agreement with MMA Live through to the end of the summer when you consider that it will get to cover some pretty big events like UFC 116-118. The show will likely begin with some conversation about the Fedor vs. Werdum fight, but expect a great deal of the content to focus on this weekend’s money maker.
- UFC 116 Weigh-ins: for the first time ever, the UFC will broadcast the weigh-ins for the fight on Spike TV.
- Print and digital onslaught: the UFC has bought a ton of print and digital media for this fight. I wouldn’t want to estimate the spend – some of it could very well be passed through as the result of partnerships – but I’ve seen print and online ads in USA Today, Sports Illustrated, and more this week.
any news on mma live ratings on espn 2? i usually just watched the streams a day later on espn. this fight is a pretty big deal, it will determine the #1 HW in the world right now.
The first few shows did pretty well (130k range), but since then I think the number has dropped a bit. Something near 100-110.
I think the problem with the show is that most MMA fans already know what’s going to be discussed on the show. It’s only really something that adds value for casual MMA fans.
If the show is to survive, I think they need to find a way to add some exclusive content that MMA fans can’t get anywhere else. Otherwise, their current value proposition isn’t a great one.
i agree with kelsey, i dont bother to watch any of the mma ‘news’ shows because im on the internet every few hours checking what has happened recently, so i find watching the ‘news’ shows almost a waste of time, since i already know everything that is going to be said.
I only watch actually MMA Live online, but I make sure to DVR it to help with the ratings lol. True, they don’t have much unique content, but it’s interesting getting the perspectives of Kenny Florian and Pat Miletich, as well as all the other fighters they have on as guests. Not sure what more they could do with the show. InsideMMA is probably better… damn you Comcast Sacramento for denying me HdNet!
Inside MMA is a great format having the fighters on site. I used to watch Inside MMA when they provided the free streams, now they only provide a portion of the show and you have to wait a bit to get the updates.
Pat’s commentary is really good. I like his analysis. Kenny is okay as well, but I find he sometimes is biased and tries to hard not to be controversial. Hard to blame him since he’s an active fighter.
I have a feeling, although I’ve said this the last PPVs, that this will be a slightly lower buy rate than Zuffa and many people expect… I think it will do around Rashad/Rampage numbers, but I just have a feeling Zuffa is due for a slight dud with bigger names. Although I think with it being the Saturday before the 4th they’ll get a lot of eyes on it with people going out to sports bars showing it without knowing it was on.
I just think they’re setting themselves up for a 1m+ rate, and I’m having a hard time to see how they pull that off, if they do then Brock is an incredible draw because he would be basically doing this by himself.
Is it just me, or does it seem like Zuffa could’ve/should’ve put a lot more effort into promoting this event? I thought this was going to be one of the (if not THE) biggest fight of the year for the UFC, but I’m just not feeling that way… Maybe it’s just me. I
I’m going to do something I never do and make a PPV buyrate-related prediction: UFC 118 may very well do more PPV buys than this one. I’ll stand by that for now. I’m already feeling the hype for that one and it’s still two months out. The hype train just doesn’t seem to be there in force. Please let me know If I’m alone on this one.
Uh-oh, grammar fail. I need to get it together.
No Machiel, that’s part of the reason for my post above yours, they don’t seem to be going crazy in selling this one, that I’ve noticed at least.
Not much of an under card. Might be good fights, but no big names. I really think a lot of people have counted Carwin out. Come Saturday evening we will have a new UFC champ and a new #1. Lesnar will be exposed.
I’ve been surprised that this didn’t get more hype considering the bad blood between the fighters. Rashad v. Rampage sold 1M buys based on that bad blood, and let’s face it, Brock can talk up a fight if you give him the opportunity. But both Brock and Shane were fairly muted at the conference call, the press conference and the Countdown show. I’m not sure what happened there, I was expecting more like the Lesnar v. Mir Countdown show.
Still, 116 has a chance to do over 1M buys, which would put the UFC on pace to break the PPV record this year…again. Sick.
Guru – agree that Lesnar will be exposed. Carwin will neutralize Lesnar’s wrestling long enough to test his chin. Lesnar is also coming off a long layoff and illness and he’s showing up for this fight lighter when I think he’s going to need all the strength he can get. I put a bet on Carwin months ago at +150 and I’m keeping my fingers crossed. The World Cup killed me and I need to make some bank.
Lesnar’s first fight back in a year should garner at least 900K buys + or – 100K buys.
Ultimate Fighter 11 Finale numbers now stands at 1,889 spectators for a $430,250 live gate. Just an FYI.