Television by the Numbers reports that the third and final episode of Fight Camp 360: Pacquiao vs. Mosley airing on CBS on Saturday received a lowly 0.3 rating for the 18-49 adult demographic. The one hour special ended the trilogy of episodes hyping the bout next Saturday night.
The first and third episodes ran on CBS. The first episode garnered a 0.5 rating for a Saturday morning time slot. The second episode, as with all three episodes, ran on Showtime.
NASCAR on Fox running opposite Fight Camp received 1.5/1.6 rating winning the time slots (8-8:30 and 8:30-9pm) for the evening. Also, UFC 129 could have taken away some fight fans from the broadcast.
Payout Perspective:
I doubt that the poor ratings will impact the PPV buy rate simply because Manny Pacquiao is a huge draw and, unlike MMA PPVs, big boxing events are few and far between per year. Thus, the casual boxing fan would be more likely to drop $65 on the PPV. Nevertheless, one might argue that the past-his-prime Mosley will not be a challenge for Pacquiao. As the Fight Camp series shows, Pacquiao seems focused and ready for this fight.
In my opinion, I was impressed with the Fight Camp series. It was more of a vehicle for Pacquiao than it introduced Mosley to the audience. While HBO 24/7 infused a blaring soundtrack and narrator to move the viewer along, Fight Camp let the characters tell the story. There was less of an emphasis to create a storyline (i.e., internal struggles in the Pacquiao camp) and more on showing the behind-the-scenes of each camp. It also seemed as though Pacquiao was comfortable in front of the camera which helped. Also, the old footage of a young Pacquiao (and young Buboy) was interesting to see.
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