HBO Boxing 2012 Telecasts show very strong Ratings

Strong rating for Adrien Broner continues positive trend for HBO’s 2012 boxing telecasts By Kevin Iole | Boxing – 1 hour 1 minute ago Email Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. has fought in two of the three top-rated bouts on HBO in 2012. (AP) The controversial Adrien Broner-Vicente Escobedo fight on Saturday continued a strong run for boxing on HBO. All nine main events on HBO broadcasts in 2012 have exceeded 1 million live viewers, a very positive trend for the sport. Adrien Broner attracted 1.4 million live viewers on HBO on Saturday. (AP) Broner's fifth-round stoppage of Escobedo, which was notable because of Broner's disdain for making the 130-pound super featherweight limit, did a 3.4 rating and drew 1.4 million live viewers. That made it the No. 1 Boxing After Dark show on HBO this year. It also was watched by the fourth-most viewers in 2012. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., who was once ridiculed as an overhyped sensation, holds down the top spot and is tied for second. Chavez's Feb. 4 bout with Marco Antonio Rubio drew 1.9 million live viewers, according to an HBO spokesman. The Bernard Hopkins-Chad Dawson bout on April 28, which was a rematch of a horrendous pay-per-view flop from 2011, and the June 16 Chavez-Andy Lee match, each attracted 1.6 million live viewers. The numbers prove one thing: HBO Sports is still, far and away, the dominant force when it comes to boxing on television. The largest live audience for a Showtime fight in 2012 was the June 23 bout in Los Angeles between Victor Ortiz and Josesito Lopez, which drew 740,000 live viewers. That means that every HBO main event in 2012 drew a minimum of 25 percent more viewers than the best Showtime fight. At a time when boxing repeatedly takes broadsides for being on a downward trend, it's nice to see positive news over the long haul. It's proof if the right fights are made, and promoters make a good faith effort to spread the word, the fans will tune in. Pagination Previous Rapper 50 Cent seems in, Golden Boy Promotions out as Floyd Mayweather’s promoter http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/boxing/strong-rating-adrien-broner-continues-positive-trend-hbo-203137911--box.html

Comments (14)

Lundy vs Broner should be HBOs next big target

13y ago

The_Gambler1981

A couple years ago people were dogging HBO about their ratings, not much has really changed other than a couple more popular fighters came along. Boxing is a cyclical in nature and even a big dogs like HBO gets effected by that~ WRU Thomas Hauser~

13y ago

Thornton_Melon

I totally forgot that Tyson fought on fox after he got out of prison. I was thinking about the Tyson that used to fight on Saturday afternoons on ABC when Lampley was calling the fights for ABC. I was thinking there was no way he was drawing 40 million viewers on a Saturday afternoon. My bad.

13y ago

croz

Where is the proof that a young not yet established Tyson drew 40 million viewers? I have a circle of about 8 or 10 people that all follow and watch boxing just like myself. So if there is about 10 of us here than I think it is just fine nationwide. I don't know anybody that watches NASCAR but that does alright. http://articles.latimes.com/1995-12-20/sports/sp-15952_1_mike-tyson Fox said its research showed that more than 43 million people viewed all or part of the telecast, which also included Terry Norris vs. Paul Vaden. At the same time, HBO reported a cable rating of 14.6 with a 23 share Friday night for its telecast of the Oscar De La Hoya-Jesse Leija fight at Madison Square Garden. Each ratings point represents 1% of the network's total potential universe, which in the case of HBO is 22 million homes and in the case of Fox is about 96 million. Share figures represent the percentage of TV's in actual use. GB and TR are kidding themselves if they think network TV won't build stars fast. I think Kathy Duva might be the only one with her head screwed on.

13y ago

LasVegas_Boxing

tyson did huge ratings

13y ago

Thornton_Melon

These are all HBO ratings. It only shows their ratings are good by their own standards. Since they're a small network these numbers are normal. If these same boxers were fighting on something like CBS they'd be household names since their numbers might be ten fold what they get on HBO. For example Mike Tyson fought on network TV with ratings in the 40 million range. These days those same fights would be PPV. If Canelo fought on CBS he could nab in the 10 million plus range. Where is the proof that a young not yet established Tyson drew 40 million viewers? I have a circle of about 8 or 10 people that all follow and watch boxing just like myself. So if there is about 10 of us here than I think it is just fine nationwide. I don't know anybody that watches NASCAR but that does alright.

13y ago

croz

I honestly don't buy it. I think it's propganda. The average person I know can't name a boxer outside of Pacquiao, Mayweather, and some the Klitschko's. Most people I know who aren't die-hard boxing fans don't even know who the hell Martinez is and he's one of the if not the best around imo. I hope the report's true though. These are all HBO ratings. It only shows their ratings are good by their own standards. Since they're a small network these numbers are normal. If these same boxers were fighting on something like CBS they'd be household names since their numbers might be ten fold what they get on HBO. For example Mike Tyson fought on network TV with ratings in the 40 million range. These days those same fights would be PPV. If Canelo fought on CBS he could nab in the 10 million plus range.

13y ago

Pad83

13y ago

croz

Good sign for the sport. There is a lot of positive things happening in Boxing with the amount of coverage it is getting NBC/NBC Sports network adding more Boxing dates, CBS and Golden Boy tv deal, 50 Cent believe it or not will be very positive for Boxing bc one of the most popular entertainers in the world and someone with 7 million twitter followers will be promoting the sport and will get a ton of new eye balls on Broner vs Gamboa when it happens. and Snookie. If they can pull of this boxing world cup thing they've been talking about it'll be a huge boon.

13y ago

croz

Some of these ratings aren't what I expected. Iole said Chavez-Lee beat all his previous ratings yet this says it got 1.6? What happened to the 2 millon plus number?

13y ago

LasVegas_Boxing

13y ago

HUGEBOXINGFAN

hopefully this will put a rest to all the claims of boxing dying every single year there is news clippings saying that in 1887 lol

13y ago

HUGEBOXINGFAN

HBO PPV Buys have also been strong with Mayweathe/Cotto bringing in 1.5 million buys and Pacquiao/Bradley doing 950,000 and Chavez/Martinez expected to do 500k. Also imo I think Alvarez vs. Cotto is going to happen in December but Showtime is going to get that PPV.

13y ago

krimzon

hopefully this will put a rest to all the claims of boxing dying every single year

13y ago