The Sports Business Journal ran an article on Floyd Mayweather’s new promotional partner, Showtime, in lieu of his upcoming fight Saturday. The article addressed how CBS has boosted the promotion of his upcoming fight.
The allure of expanding the reach through promotion of his fights on the CBS network may have enticed Mayweather to switch from HBO to Showtime. Mayweather made an appearance during The Final Four to promote Saturday’s fight. Last Saturday in prime time, the network ran a one hour documentary dedicated to the fighter featuring many notable names including Kobe Bryant and Magic Johnson praising Mayweather.
CBS has utilized its network, radio, interactive and outdoor divisions to promote the fight. While the Mayweather camp had a profitable relationship with Showtime, it thought that Mayweather’s fights could have been marketed to a broader audience.
The article also stated that Corona and O’Reilly’s Auto Parts were heavily promoting the fight with point of sale promotions and in-store promotions. In addition, the fight can be seen in movie theaters.
The LA Times’ Larry Pugmire tweeted that Mayweather’s opponent, Robert Guerrero will make $3 million for fighting Saturday. In comparison Victor Ortiz, Mayweather’s last opponent made $2 million. No word on how much Mayweather for this fight although it was reported he made upwards of $40 million for the Ortiz fight.
Payout Perspective:
Its an understatement to write that Mayweather boxing promotions are distinctly different from how the UFC promotes its fighters. Mayweather’s success has allowed him the opportunity to go into business for himself. He partners with Golden Boy Promotions but he fronts a lot of the marketing dollars in order to receive a lot on the back end via multiple revenue streams (i.e., PPV, closed circuit, movie theatres showing the fight, gate, foreign sales for his fights and sponsorship). The NY Times had a great article detailing this business model prior to his fight with Victor Ortiz.
Mayweather’s documentary on CBS Saturday night ranked the lowest for the 8-9pm network time slot with a 1.73M viewer average. Manny Pacquiao jumped from HBO to Showtime for one fight against Shane Mosley and the network showed its All Access programming on the network. For this fight, CBS has not shown the show but it has been available freely online.
Yet, the the marketing for the event may be viewed by more eyes due to the network influence. Will that turn into PPV buys and attendance? We will see Saturday night.
I think leaving HBO was a bad move because it seems (at least to me) that this fight doesn’t have half the buzz/anticipation that Floyd’s fights usually do.
I agree with Pureincognito, there isnt any buzz for this fight, not sure if thats because he moved to showtime or because of who he is fighting.
I know they allegedly have a huge gate for the fight but I just dont feel the same buzz like I’ve felt with past Floyd fights. We’ll see if the PPVs do the same, if they do then it was a smart move for Floyd to move to Showtime.
@chris/pureincognito
I think it may be both. Certainly HBO ran 24/7’s all over its networks (e.g. CNN) while Showtime has not (although its available online). Guerrero is an unknown to most casual fans, then of course, so was Timothy Bradley for Pacquiao.
Only the skirmish by Guerrero’s father at the press conference has been the only notable spark for the fight at this point.
“We’ll see if the PPVs do the same, if they do then it was a smart move for Floyd to move to Showtime.”
It was a good move by Floyd either way. From what I understand, most of his compensation is fixed and is not dependent on buyrate (which is, I suppose, a perk to being the biggest PPV draw in combat sports). Now, how the PPV sales will go a long way toward determining whether or not it was a smart financial move by Viacom. Espinoza said that they’re projecting 1.5 million but I’ve heard that several people within Showtime Sports think that it will exceed that.
Exceed 1.5 million? I dont see that happening at all. Theyd be lucky to hit 900k
UPDATED: Mayweather to be paid $32 million (not including ancillary revenue). Guerrero to make $3 million.
Incredible $9.92 million live gate for Mayweather-Guerrero.
Sampson called it. Dan Rafael and Kevin Iole are reporting that early trending suggests less than 1 million buys for Mayweather-Guerrero. Possibly way less. For anyone else this would, obviously, be a phenomenal number but the guranteeed money paid out by Showtime/CBS would mean they lost lots of money on the promotion, per Dan Rafael. Will be interesting to see what the final numbers are.