HBO Boxing... on the rise or falling hard? Calzaghe-Kessler vs Bradley-Rios

HBO boxing is going bye bye sooner than later. I don't really care though, as long as they give Max, Roy and Hopkins jobs at PBC doing some type of commentating work. Those guys are great. feel you on that one :boxing:

Calzaghe-Kessler took place in Wales in 2007 and cost HBO $3 million. The event telecast brought in an average of 1.591 million viewers and was considered the lowest ratings ever for a HBO World Championship Boxing telecast. http://boxrec.com/media/index.php/Joe_Calzaghe_vs._Mikkel_Kessler Bradley-Rios took place in the US in 2015 and cost HBO $3 million. The event telecast brought in an average of 747,000 viewers. So 8 years after the lowest WCB card on HBO, another WCB event generates less than HALF of the lowest event 8 years prior. How healthy is HBO's boxing program?HBO has been downsizing it's Boxing program since the decline of the American heavyweight. Moreover, it's not free television. Unlike the Super Bowl, it's a premium channel network, that is reliant on subscribers, rather than Nielsen ratings, in order to sell advertisements to make money. In other words, HBO has an inelastic business model. As long as they don't lose any subscribers, then HBO's boxing program should be just fine. So it doesn't matter how many viewers tune in to watch a boxing event, it won't hurt their overall revenues because they are selling a prepaid subscription service.

Another muppet thread

Boxing promoters have done a poor job of star-building in preparation of the post Floyd/Pac era. They built fighters up as opponents for Mayweather and Pacquiao instead of investing in them to become headliners on their own.

HBO use to get Double Digit Ratings back in the late 90's when Lou DiBella was running things. If I remember Correctly at match up like Trinidad vs Whitaker drew like 16 Million Views So I kinda laugh when I see fight fans being happy with 900k-1million views for an event on HBO and they think that is "GOOD" :lol1:

The TV series, The Flash, is the CW's highest rated tv show in its 9 year history. It is also one of the most consistent TV shows as far viewers go. AMC's The Walking Dead nearly hit 20 million viewers for its Season 6 Episode 1 show. Fear The Walking Dead, launched in 2015, became the #1 rated cable series launch in history. Fox's Supergirl drew in 14 million viewers in its premiere, another record. Supergirl ranks second to The Big Bang Theory on Fox's viewership. I can go on on with all these new record breaking TV shows which shows what you said is false about TV seeing a drop in ratings. It's quite the opposite. Great post! The facts dont lie

PBC has something to do with HBO's decline Their numbers have barely changed since that came about. They've had some big hits, some misses, similar on average. It's Showtime that's taken a beating from the pbc

Ratings as a whole have declined for all TV and premium cable especially. Everyone is aware of this phenomenon -- so much so that it actually has a name: "cord-cutting" Nobody expects to dramatically outperform pre-recession pay cable numbers :rofl: Moreover, it was only at some point in the 2000s that HBO and SHO put themselves into the Nielsen ratings. Before that, they "measured internally and self-reported" ... which, as you can imagine, often led to grossly inflated numbers I think that change happened before 2007 but to be honest I'm not 100% sure The TV series, The Flash, is the CW's highest rated tv show in its 9 year history. It is also one of the most consistent TV shows as far viewers go. AMC's The Walking Dead nearly hit 20 million viewers for its Season 6 Episode 1 show. Fear The Walking Dead, launched in 2015, became the #1 rated cable series launch in history. Fox's Supergirl drew in 14 million viewers in its premiere, another record. Supergirl ranks second to The Big Bang Theory on Fox's viewership. I can go on on with all these new record breaking TV shows which shows what you said is false about TV seeing a drop in ratings. It's quite the opposite.

It's possible, but I wouldn't bet on it. I'd definitely bet that either HBO boxing closes their doors in 2018 or PBC is ths only promoter they work with.

I DEFINITELY see HBO closing it's boxing program by 2018. They keep cutting costs since 1999 LOL It's possible, but I wouldn't bet on it.

, Personally, if this leads to more competitive fights, more inside fighting, fewer fights that cost money to watch and especially, fewer titles, I am all for it. Let's face it. The HBO commentary grew so bias and terrible over the years that it's a wonder it has lasted as long as it has. More boxing on free TV. HBO (nor Showtime or PBC for that matter) has anything to do with the titles mess. It would be great if some of them went away. I like the HBO crew. I don't really like them enough to get into a big argument about it, so to each their own. But the only other crew I really like other then them is the Spike crew, but I'll watch a good fight called by anybody. I do also really like Al Bernstein, and I really liked seeing Brian Kenny back involved with boxing on Fox. Free TV is fine, though I do hate commercials. I am so used to watching big boxing on premium cable or PPV, that the commercials really annoy me. But I can live with it. I still prefer watching on HBO.

You know, I enjoy HBOs boxing broadcast. But it wouldn't be the end of the world if it folded. It wouldn't shock me if HBO got out of Boxing and the PBC folded. But boxing would adapt and move on. I actually think both will survive, and live on as niche programming, but we will see. I DEFINITELY see HBO closing it's boxing program by 2018. They keep cutting costs since 1999 LOL

You know, I enjoy HBOs boxing broadcast. But it wouldn't be the end of the world if it folded. It wouldn't shock me if HBO got out of Boxing and the PBC folded. But boxing would adapt and move on. I actually think both will survive, and live on as niche programming, but we will see.

hbo is just better all around. Floyd nut hugges are delusional

To your point, when OZ and the Sopranos hit, I really thought HBO would ditch boxing. I thought they would put all their money in shows and that would be it. Boxing is no longer the cornerstone of theirs it once was I think pretty much for the last 10-15 years or so, boxing has been cheap programming for a Saturday night (that they can re-run like crazy) and PPVs are low risk money for them. Boxing hasn't been the first thing on the average HBO subscribers mind in at least 15 years, but they have still kept it. I doubt it's going away anytime too soon, but we will see. Well last year they hit their lowest viewership ever for a $3M pricetag. That's pretty bad and telling of wherw HBO will focus on to cut costs during the economic downturn.

Now compare the amount of revenue HBO makes from original series in the form of all the revenue streams vs. boxing. LOL To your point, when OZ and the Sopranos hit, I really thought HBO would ditch boxing. I thought they would put all their money in shows and that would be it. Boxing is no longer the cornerstone of theirs it once was I think pretty much for the last 10-15 years or so, boxing has been cheap programming for a Saturday night (that they can re-run like crazy) and PPVs are low risk money for them. Boxing hasn't been the first thing on the average HBO subscribers mind in at least 15 years, but they have still kept it. I doubt it's going away anytime too soon, but we will see.

Yeah, but the Sopranos averaged 11 million rating in it's 4th season, which is close to double what GOT gets. I guess GOT is a failure too. HBO should drop it Now compare the amount of revenue HBO makes from original series in the form of all the revenue streams vs. boxing. LOL

Didn't Klitschko-Lewis draw like 4.4M homes with a peak of over 7 million viewers live? That is a HUGE difference than today's best Yeah, but the Sopranos averaged 11 million rating in it's 4th season, which is close to double what GOT gets. I guess GOT is a failure too. HBO should drop it

Boxing never competed with the top programming on HBO. The Sopranos did way better then GOT ever got and they still kept boxing. But, you are right in that HBO boxing might not last forever. I doubt they're getting out anytime too soon, but the landscape of television is changing. 10 years from now half these channels might not even be in business. Live sports is one of the few things keeping traditional cable alive these days. That's one of things both HBO boxing and the PBC have going for it. Didn't Klitschko-Lewis draw like 4.4M homes with a peak of over 7 million viewers live? That is a HUGE difference than today's best

HBO boxing is going bye bye sooner than later. I don't really care though, as long as they give Max, Roy and Hopkins jobs at PBC doing some type of commentating work. Those guys are great. I agree completely! I wish PBC brought on Big George!