Showtime Boxing Saturday night peaked at 491,000 subscribers.
The event was highlighted by Erislandy Lara defending his WBA Super Welterweight Championship over Vanes Martirosyan.
In addition, Jermall Charlo defeated John Jackson.
Per Sports TV Ratings:
11:18pm – 491,000 subscribers
10:57pm – 414,000 subscribers
12:09am – 358,000 subscribers
10:07pm – 389,000 subscribers
Payout Perspective:
The NBA Playoff game between Cleveland and Toronto on ESPN scored the highest in cable sports TV ratings Saturday night. The Showtime Boxing event did much better than previous showings of late.
Still not great ratings, boxing is still a fantastic product but the ratings are down across the board in the U.S. Between 2011 and 2015, boxing was in a golden age despite the mainstream media never acknowledging it. The boxing cards were great and the ratings were pretty good on HBO, Showtime, ESPN, NBC Sports Network, regular NBC (with events like Tyson Fury vs Steve Cunningham in N.Y. City in the Spring of 2013), Wealth TV, EPIX etc…
Boxing today is still a very solid product but the ratings are not what they were a few years ago. I don’t know how much MMA is to blame quite frankly, despite what some really believe. MMA and boxing tend to draw very different crowds. Most promoters who have been involved in both sports will confirm this.
On a different note Jason, you should report on this evil act which a threatening both boxing and most non-UFC MMA in New York state: http://nypost.com/2016/05/21/did-ufc-push-legislation-to-kill-boxing-in-new-york/
Card was okay, Charlos are over hyped and Lara has a very tough style. Interesting because there is a lot of fights the next few months that will shape up the boxing landscape.
I dont think mma and boxing have the same audience to be honest…..I think the boxing is much more an inner city sport, mma is much more a suburban sport. Different demographic gentlemen
@Wil
Boxing demos are at the extreme. According to what I’ve read, in the U.S., boxing fans are the least educated and poorest (defined as $30K and less a year) AND also the richest and most educated (defined as $300K or more a year). That’s compared to the UFC. UFC has the middle class and upscale middle class ($50K to $150K/$200K a year).
In the U.K. and Germany it’s probably very different and much more spread across the board.
Mediocre.
Boxing is a good sport but it seems to have lost much of its popularity in the Americas.
Worldwide, however, boxing is doing great.
I am not surprised. The boxers in the USA tend to be products of poverty and low income, tend to be black and latino, while those who watch it would be the same and the types who can afford HBO/Showtime, PPVs, and those who can afford the heavy costs of the tickets to see it live. Which is why we see celebs and other wealthy types at the big fights.
The problem with viewership in the USA I think stems from the 90s and early 2000s era when boxing was relegated to premium cable and the ppv model, which took exposure away from the lower class who make up American boxing. Consequently that is when we started seeing the drop in American dominance in the amateur, especially Olympic, stages.
You are absolutely right. One thing I have noticed, if I go up to a group of black and latino kids in the inner city and start talking to them about Carlos Condit, Chuck Liddel, and Uriah Faber for instance, I will get a bewildered response. If I go out to the burbs and talk to a group of white kids about Errol Spence Jr, Anthony Joshua, and Jermall Charlo, I will get the equivalent response.
Boxing also has an older demographic and a more Hispanic audience.
They haven’t been able to create a Black superstar, who connects with the casual Hip Hop crowd in years, Floyd did obviously and Broner if he had the skills would have as well.