Endeavor president praises UFC impact for ESPN

Endeavor’s president Mark Shapiro is happy that the UFC is doing so well on ESPN and was highlighted by Disney Chari Bob Iger during last week’s earnings call for the company.  Shapiro also noted the success of last month’s UFC 246 which he remarked reached a high of 50,000 PPV buys in 1 minute.

Per John Ourand’s eblast newsletter, the Sports Business Journal talked to Shapiro. The return of Conor McGregor this past January highlighted the event’s success with over 1 million PPV buys and a boost in subscriptions for ESPN+. 

Bullish on the UFC, Shapiro remarked to the Sports Business Journal that the deal delivered for the partnership.  “They’re not paying anyone else the kind of rights fees they are paying us for ESPN+,” as quoted and delivered in John Ourand’s daily SBJ media eblast. “It’s the UFC that is driving sign-ups by every metric we look at.  It’s not even close.”  He went on to say that the UFC is “appointment viewing.” 

In noting that high volume of purchasers for last month’s Conor McGregor-Donald Cerrone showdown, Shapiro stated that there were no tech issues. 

In addition to the PPV purchases, Shapiro stated that the linear television ratings have improved since moving from Fox.  UFC events averaged 1.1 million viewers were up 43% compared to live events on FS1 in 2018.  The UFC also carries the male 18-34 demo as ESPN was the most-viewed cable network 13 of the last 16 times it carried UFC events.  Shapiro stated, “We are in the trenches with [Disney] on every aspect off the league…”

Payout Perspective:

Clearly the UFC is doing well with ESPN and probably better than if it had stayed with Fox and FS1.  Notably, Shapiro refers to the UFC as a “league” instead of a promotion.  Regardless, the UFC property is a valuable asset for Disney.  Moreover, you might infer that the UFC is being paid a premium for its rights fees as it has a solid young male demo and the Conor McGregor-factor is still a needle mover as exemplified with the astronomical amount of people that paid for his return to the Octagon this past January.