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Report: UFC 94 buyrate still good, but not great
By Zach Arnold | February 18, 2009
Quote of the Day from Dave Meltzer, who initially said that early ‘trending’ indicators showed UFC 94 (Penn vs. GSP) doing blockbuster numbers:
There are other reports from those with actual knowledge of PPV numbers themselves who have said at this point the confirmed number of buys was closer to 800,000, which, if true, would be a disappointment by today’s standards.
800,000 PPV buys is still a really, really good number.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 17 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Given how virtually none of the final numbers have reflected any of the varying pre-and immediate post-event estimates produced in the last few months, I think it’s seriously time for people to seriously consider not spending excess time on them, at least until there is a legitimate final number.
Dana tells everyone who will listen it will probably end up as the highest grossing UFC PPV of all time and only a few weeks later we learn it didn’t even come close to edging out Ortiz/ Liddell 2 for the top spot? Why did he do it? What is going on?
He did all that because he’s a promoter and as such its his job to make the event seem as big as possible. He got the press to jump on that bangwagon twice (once for UFC 91 and again for UFC 94) without either actually being such or without even really questioning it, which kinda shows you just how good a promoter he is.
Besides, its not like they didn’t make money. They made tons.
Is there any way to know if Meltzer’s sources are correct? No. Unless we see actual proof one way or another I will assume this did 1 million+ based on the amount of people who aren’t into mma I heard talking about this event/how full sports bars were (which in my experience is a good indicator of interest/ppv buys).
@ #4 – I think I’ll take Meltzer’s sources over your rather complicated “scientific” indicator.
While Meltzer has shown that he subject to receiving puffed up initial numbers from his sources (i.e. Internal Zuffa source), he’s also good about actually reporting the numbers as they come out from his other sources.
I agree with Zach. 800,000 is still a very good number. Especially when GSP and Penn have never been huge draws compared to Lesnar, Ortiz, Liddell, and Rampage.
The point is not that 800K is a good number. Of course its a good number…its actually a great number.
To me the point is that even mindless UFC fans (read 45Huddle–j/k, j/k) arent buying this whole “biggest fight in UFC history” thing anymore. I mean, they’ve have at least 3 of them in the past 12 months. Instead of trying to convince people of how big a fight it is by using hyperbole, they should just promote the fight as a really good fight between two top p4p champions.
@5–my scientific methods are exact! 🙂
I wish for once we could actually know the real buyrates for UFC ppvs instead of relying on unnamed sources.
It just shows how *good* things are going for the UFC when a show that’s trending for 800,000-900+k buys might be considered “disappointing”.
WOAH!
W. Silva vs. Franklin for UFC 99… @ 195lbs??
I’m intrigued.
Franklin vs. Wanderlei is a great fight. I hate the catchweight. 205 or 185. This catchweight stuff is garbage.
Meltzer also pegged the Affliction: DOR PPV#s at 100k in the updated info.
100k for Affliction 2 means….
$22.50 X 100,000 = $2.25 Million (I am going by the assumption that Affliction got 50% of the PPV thanks to Golden Boys influence)
No way this show even broke even.
With Strikeforce on Showtime, the need for Affliction seems even less necessary. I will be happy when Sengoku & Affliction are gone, and their athletes are scattered across the UFC/WEC, Strikeforce, and DREAM. It will only make for better fights for the fans.
45 Huddle: Rome over at BE says Affliction probably got about $16 per buy, because Golden Boy was also getting a chunk.
16 * 100,000 is 1.6 million. They barely even covered Arlovski’s salary.
I find it really bizarre that Affliction has to pay people so much money to fight Fedor.
You’d think that top heavyweights would be lining up to topple the king.
I know all estimates are just that but I seriously doubt that there is a 500k difference between buyrate projections that would be unprecidented. Considering how long it’s taken to get full numbers on UFC 91 and 92, there is obviously more news coming on whatever the final number which I expect to be over 1 million buys.
I find it really bizarre that Affliction has to pay people so much money to fight Fedor.
Well, if you can beat up some pro wrestler in Japan for the same amount as you’d get fighting Fedor in a high profile bout you very well might lose, you take the fight with the pro wrestler. You know why? Because if you’re gonna take a beating, you want to get paid for it.
After all, if the money didn’t matter, the UFC heavyweight division would consist of Noguiera and a bunch of fat guys from KOTC while everyone else went for a mass exodus to fight the Russian.
Plus, there is a high risk in going to a company like Affliction. If you lose in Affliction, it can be a huge blow to your career.
If you lose in the UFC, they can build you back up. Imagine Serra/GSP took place outside of the UFC. GSP would have never gotten the rematch within a year. The UFC does give a certain level of job security to the highest level fighters. That is often under looked.
On a side note, I think Strikeforce will now be able to give that same type of job security to a certain degree.