Conor McGregor will face Eddie Alvarez for the UFC lightweight title at UFC 205 in New York. Adweek ran a feature on how brands are getting behind the company’s debut in the state.
Earlier this year, New York lawmakers voted to legalize MMA in the state. While there are still bumps regarding the passage of the bill, the fact is that MMA is making its long-awaited debut in the Big Apple.
According to the AdWeek article, UFC pulls in more total fans (1.1 billion) in telecasts worldwide and garners more fans than MLB (223 million) and the NHL (199 million) per Nielsen. Perhaps this number is skewed since the UFC is year-round as opposed to sports which live events air during the season.
The article also notes that most of the UFC fan base is outside of the US with only 16 percent of its fan base here in the U.S.
The AdWeek focus of the feature stresses how brands can capitalize on working with the UFC and how it is relatively cost-effective to work with the MMA organization as opposed to other leagues.
Payout Perspective:
The interesting takeaway from the article are the fans outside of the US. This bodes well for international expansion in terms of events and UFC Fight Pass subscribers. The feature stresses the core audience of the UFC is young males in a demo that has disposable income. Notably, the article centers its focus on two longtime, existing UFC brands Harley Davidson and Anheuser Busch and how those brands will benefit from the UFC’s debut in New York.
–“According to the AdWeek article, UFC pulls in more total fans (1.1 billion) in telecasts worldwide and garners more fans than MLB (223 million) and the NHL (199 million) per Nielsen. Perhaps this number is skewed since the UFC is year-round as opposed to sports which live events air during the season”–
Why even post something that you know is completely off base.
You really think the UFC gets more viewers than the MLB? The MLB has over 2,430 games a year and you think the UFCs 40 events, with 13 being on ppv has some how pulled in more viewers than baseball?
@ Caramel City
Can you even count? 1.1 billion vs 223 for Baseball, yeah, repeat, 1.1 BILLION vs 233 MILLION.
The fact that there are so many baseball games like you said completely negate the fact that it’s not a year-around sport when comparing it to the UFC’s weekly or so event. Why do you think the organization was sold fo 4 billion?
People denying the UFC’s global growth and dominance are like those idiots in Alabama who won’t believe the Earth is round.
Yes the UFC easily gets more viewers than those sports. Yes those sports have lots of games in big stadiums. But the UFC ratings on TV in the US is as good or better. Not to mention the UFC is bigger globally than those leagues. Keep in mind this says fans/viewers. Not how many times the same fans sees a game. Also replays of those sports are almost useless. Where as entire events and especially many fights from every event are played all over the world over and over for many years. Fights and finishes go viral and are seen by tons of people. Having a brand in the cage or on a fighter is seen constantly for decades by WAY more people than will ever see a MLB game.
Besides the NFL,college football and NBA, no other sport does better in the main demo. That’s a fact.
Why get mad at an article?
Yet, UFC wasn’t able to sell out either McGregor-Diaz fight in Las Vegas.
It’s not 1.1 billion fans. It’s “global fan base of 269 million” and “It reaches 1.1 billion TV households “