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Looks like UFC 101 did 1 million buys according to Dave Meltzer. Thats the second straight UFC PPV to do 1 million or more buys with July's 1.72 million buys for UFC 100 being their record. Its also the 3rd UFC PPV to do 1 million or more buys in less than a year. And the 5th UFC PPV to do 800,000 or more buys in less than a year. Right now UFC's on course to shatter the record for buys and revenue in a single year for either Boxing, wrestling, or MMA, a record the UFC set last year.
This doesn't look good for Floyd and his fight on Sept. 19, UFC's averaging over 600,000 buys a PPV this year and I don't know if Floyd/JMM can reach that level. The other problem Floyd/JMM will have is that most likely the majority of sports bars and restaurants that show PPV's will most likely choose the UFC over Floyd/JMM because of the UFC's PPV's being cheaper and consistently bring in more customers to these establishments. So by going head to head with the UFC they almost assuredly lost ton of money from closed circuit that they would have received if they choose an open date with out competition.
The PPV business it self though doesn't seem to be doing great except for the UFC. WWE PPV's continue to slide and now are doing about 100,000 - 200,000 buys on average domestically, some of their latest PPV's have been the worst selling PPV's they've had in over a decade. Even wrestlemania this year was down and their second biggest show Summerslam most likely won't even reach 400,000 buys. In the late 90's/early 00's wrestling PPV's led by WWE and to a lesser extent WCW and ECW ruled PPV, they brought in more revenue than boxing and at that time UFC PPV's were a non-factor only because its only outlet was Direct TV. But that changed in 2001 when WCW was bought out and ECW went out of business, WWE was the sole survivor but even with their competitors out the way they were not able to attract the former WCW and ECW fans to their product. WWE's PPV's a have been on a down ward slide for years now and to make up for the lost revenue from getting much lower buyrates they have increased the number of PPV's from 12 a year to 14 a year. This is further exasperating the over saturation of WWE PPV's in the market and leading to lower buyrates. Other wrestling companies that have done PPV's lately such as TNA, Ring of Honor, and Dragon gate get minuscule numbers, but they were never a big PPV draw to begin with. Even with pro wrestling's history as a PPV draw, this downward trend is leading to questions about the future viability of wrestling PPV's.
I believe HBO on the other hand has identified the saturation problem and rightfully limited the number of PPV fights. This is a good idea as it gives the consumers wallets a break and adds to he special atmosphere that a PPV should have. HBO can no longer expect consumers to pay 50$ a pop for a fight that most likely isn't PPV caliber. Even hyping a bad match up with their 24/7 program isn't enough these days as seen by Jones/Calzaghe fight in 2008 that disappointed with only 225,000 buys after weeks of build up on the 24/7 program. Although HBO is on the right track they have yet to address the other major problems such as the PPV prices, lack of a quality under card, and marque matches not being made at the right time. With fewer PPV's produced by HBO this year many fans were also expecting more high caliber matches on HBO but that hasn't really panned out, other than Clottley Vs Cotto there hasn't been a fight on HBO with two high caliber name opponents. If HBO wants higher ratings and bigger PPV buys they will have to create a buzz, to do so they will have to give the fans higher quality fights on HBO.
This doesn't look good for Floyd and his fight on Sept. 19, UFC's averaging over 600,000 buys a PPV this year and I don't know if Floyd/JMM can reach that level. The other problem Floyd/JMM will have is that most likely the majority of sports bars and restaurants that show PPV's will most likely choose the UFC over Floyd/JMM because of the UFC's PPV's being cheaper and consistently bring in more customers to these establishments. So by going head to head with the UFC they almost assuredly lost ton of money from closed circuit that they would have received if they choose an open date with out competition.
The PPV business it self though doesn't seem to be doing great except for the UFC. WWE PPV's continue to slide and now are doing about 100,000 - 200,000 buys on average domestically, some of their latest PPV's have been the worst selling PPV's they've had in over a decade. Even wrestlemania this year was down and their second biggest show Summerslam most likely won't even reach 400,000 buys. In the late 90's/early 00's wrestling PPV's led by WWE and to a lesser extent WCW and ECW ruled PPV, they brought in more revenue than boxing and at that time UFC PPV's were a non-factor only because its only outlet was Direct TV. But that changed in 2001 when WCW was bought out and ECW went out of business, WWE was the sole survivor but even with their competitors out the way they were not able to attract the former WCW and ECW fans to their product. WWE's PPV's a have been on a down ward slide for years now and to make up for the lost revenue from getting much lower buyrates they have increased the number of PPV's from 12 a year to 14 a year. This is further exasperating the over saturation of WWE PPV's in the market and leading to lower buyrates. Other wrestling companies that have done PPV's lately such as TNA, Ring of Honor, and Dragon gate get minuscule numbers, but they were never a big PPV draw to begin with. Even with pro wrestling's history as a PPV draw, this downward trend is leading to questions about the future viability of wrestling PPV's.
I believe HBO on the other hand has identified the saturation problem and rightfully limited the number of PPV fights. This is a good idea as it gives the consumers wallets a break and adds to he special atmosphere that a PPV should have. HBO can no longer expect consumers to pay 50$ a pop for a fight that most likely isn't PPV caliber. Even hyping a bad match up with their 24/7 program isn't enough these days as seen by Jones/Calzaghe fight in 2008 that disappointed with only 225,000 buys after weeks of build up on the 24/7 program. Although HBO is on the right track they have yet to address the other major problems such as the PPV prices, lack of a quality under card, and marque matches not being made at the right time. With fewer PPV's produced by HBO this year many fans were also expecting more high caliber matches on HBO but that hasn't really panned out, other than Clottley Vs Cotto there hasn't been a fight on HBO with two high caliber name opponents. If HBO wants higher ratings and bigger PPV buys they will have to create a buzz, to do so they will have to give the fans higher quality fights on HBO.
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