Xyience will hold the center of the Octagon in the UFC’s third network appearance May 5th. The official energy drink of the UFC will also appear on the ring bumpers during the event..
Via Xyience press release details the importance of the visibility:
To gain perspective on what this means in terms of reach for XYIENCE Xenergy, the November 12, 2011 UFC debut on the network, UFC on FOX Velasquez vs. Dos Santos was ranked No. 1 among men aged 18–34. It also delivered more viewers of a younger age (35), and a higher concentration of males, than other live sports on broadcast television. The XYIENCE Xenergy logo could be found on the perimeter of the mat during that broadcast.
In support of the announcement, Xyience is staging local appearances by Matt Serra on May 4th and 5th. Details can be found here.
Payout Perspective:
A good boost for the visibility of the Xyience brand for the event. Similar to the November 12th event, UFC on Fox 3 will have to compete with a big boxing PPV the same night as Floyd Mayweather fights Miguel Cotto. It’s likely that the two events will not directly cross paths that night as the Mayweather fight will likely occur later on in the evening after UFC’s event on Fox.
It’s interesting that we are seeing more brands having an opportunity to take the center of the Octagon for events. As an example, Affliction was the center for UFC on Fuel 2. We will see who will be next.
Jason,
On the flip side, the UFC just went from BUD LIGHT (one of their major sponsors) to XYIENCE (one of their home grown sponsors) on FOX. I wonder what it says about the sponsor side of things for the UFC/FOX TV deal. Back in Nov of last year, we heard the big sponsors would come after first quarter…. but since we’ve heard that UFC on FOX was struggling to get the blue chip sponsors, and this might be more proof of it.
Very interesting to see this happen.
Time will tell the truth but it’s not exactly looking good right now. I think the inconsistency of 4 Fox shows per year and the unpredictability of fights ending in one minute probably have affected their ability to gain any new, corporate sponsors.
That and the naturally violence occurring in the cage.
I agree with Sampson in that the 4 events couldnt help. It isnt worth the risk that these companies think think is possible to put out money on a per event basis. To be worth that risk it would only be viable in a long term deal so there is atleast a big upside. 4 events is enough for anyone to sign a large deal. If there was a dozen evens per year on fox i think there is enough upside that companies would see the value and out way the risk. 4 events isnt enough time to be associated with the UFC brand or get the attention of its followers.
The UFC TV deal has some of the same problems as the Elite XC CBS deal. Doing a show every 3-4 months isnt enough to build any reputation or momentum. All those new fans you reach have forget everything about the last event. Out of sight, out of mind. UFC needs to be 1once per month to even have a chance to make the most out of their FOX tv deal.
IMO i think the way the Fox/UFC deal really breaks down is the deal was really with FX. To sweeten the deal FOX given them a few shows a year on FOX and the UFC give them a few live shows on Fuel. FOX isnt really commited to the UFC, FX is making the commitment. UFC isnt commited to Fuel. I doubt FOX wants the UFC doing monthly shows. I doubt UFC wants to give Fuel more than 4-6 shows either. I be honest i believe UFC needs 12 monthly shows on Fox and Fuel needs monthly shows from the UFC. If this was to happen i think it would be a game changer for FOX, FX, Fuel, and the UFC.
I might be wrong on this but I thought when industry folks describe an event’s ability to pull advertisers, they meant it’s ability to sell 30 second ad space. In this regard (at least according to what I’ve heard),the two UFC events thus far have done fairly well. Advertisements inside the Octagon are deal struck exclusively between Zuffa and another company. So in other words, DODGE and BUD LIGHT both have corporate contract deals with Zuffa. As such, they get advertisement and get featured in telecasts x-number of times per year. The selling of ad time on the FOX network telecast is done by FOX itself. Now, is it going well? I don’t claim to know. But I don’t think what movie, car company or other company is most prominently featured in the Octagon for a UFC event necessarily correlates with how FOX is doing selling roughly 25 minutes of ad space on a 2-hour telecast. Not being critical, believe me, just thought I’d throw that out there.
I dig the comment that called Xyience a “homegrown sponsor”. I think people forget about Xyience’s K1 treatment of fighters. If I remember correctly didn’t the UFC had to step in and buy Xyience? I assume the UFC then paid what was owed to fighters? Geeze that seemed like years ago…