Dana White is touting that this Saturday’s UFC 229 is trending to 3 million PPV buys. If true, it would blow away the UFC record of 1.6 million buys.
White states that the Embedded for the first episode of Khabib-Conor drew 1.7 million views within 24 hours. In comparison, he states that the first episode of Mayweather-McGregor had 800,000 viewers within 24 hours. He indicated that the viewership online for the UFC 229 press conference was at 4.7 million views which outdoes the biggest World Tour press conference for Mayweather-McGregor
White estimated that it would be 2 million PPV buys, but now believes that it closer to 3 million.
Payout Perspective:
Will it actually do 3 million PPV buys based on the online interest in comparison to Mayweather-McGregor? It’s hard to say because comparing Mayweather-McGregor to Khabib-McGregor is vastly differently. Certainly, The Money Fight’s popularity was due to the fame of Mayweather and the curiosity and spectacle of the event. But, can White extrapolate the success of the PPV buys of that event and use it as a model for this event? With predicting PPV buys, its always speculative. In that past, we have used Google Searches and Prelim ratings to determine the popularity of the event and how that might equate to PPV buys. In this case, the 3 million number is an aspiration and not a certainty. Moreover, one must factor in the international appeal of this event as it may not equate to the domestic PPV market. What will be telling is whether the UFC will release its buys from its own UFC.tv site.
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