The Sports Business Journal (subscription required) provided a rundown of official sponsors in a sports marketing and properties showcase. The UFC and WWE were both featured as the SBJ provided a list of its current sponsors.
UFC
Bud Light
MetroPCS
Dodge
Harley Davidson
U.S. Marines
Ultimate Poker
Xyience
MusclePharm
Corn Nuts
EA
TapouT
Ubisoft
Ryu
Edge
Some notable figures that may attract potential sponsors:
– The UFC plans to produce 31 live PPV and TV (FOX, Fuel and FX) events.
– UFC.com attracts a high of 8.6 million unique monthly visitors (in 2012).
– The UFC has 9.3 million fans on Facebook and more than 700K followers on twitter.
By comparison, we note the SBJ listed the partners for the WWE:
WWE
National Guard
Ford
Hot Pockets
Kmart
Mattel
Slim Jim
Susan G. Komen for the Cure
THQ
Payout Perspective:
Which organization has the better sponsors? It does appear that the WWE has more of the established sponsors. Then again, the UFC does have sponsors fitting the interests of its main demo of 18-34: beer, poker, male grooming products, workout supplements. Both have embraced social media as each organization uses it as a key driver in activation by leveraging its fan usage of twitter, facebook, etc. in its promotional campaigns.
Another interesting fact for the sponsors is that the UFC is planning on 31 events in 2013. At current count, the UFC will have 22 planned events in 2012. This could benefit the UFC as it attracts more sponsors to partner in more events. The opportunities could be there for fighters to garner more fights and more sponsorship chances. A discussion for another post is how the UFC will fill cards for 9 more events in 2013 when it has had trouble with juggling events this year.
Interesting. Thanks for the rundown on the sonsors. Kind of neat to see them listed like that. In regard to the 31 events next year: If you had told me back in 2001 that one day there would be 31 UFC events in a calendar year and I could see all but about a dozen of them for free on television I’d have never believed you at all. I usuallly pay for about 6 events per year (and catch another two or three at a local sports bar). That’s been the same since the UFC had around 6 PPV events per year until now when it’s over double that.But I get to watch so much more MMA now for free than I ever could before.