Final PBC on NBC ratings (Figueroa-DeMarco): 1.817M average

[Cinci Champ]

I updated the link in my original post. You can see how it did vs. the other broadcast networks. If you want to see what Saturday nights typically look like, just search that website.

For comparison, the UFC prelims on FS1 the same night and time had more viewers (1.931M) and nearly tripled PBC's 18-49 rating.

well thats expected considering they had good fights on and it was the lead up to the biggest ppv in ufc history

[Fetta]

well thats expected considering they had good fights on and it was the lead up to the biggest ppv in ufc history

Im not a UFC guy but its fun at times but i did hear them say that this was possibly the biggest matchup in history MMA.

Not sure how true but crowd was big and hyped.

[Cinci Champ]

Im not a UFC guy but its fun at times but i did hear them say that this was possibly the biggest matchup in history MMA.

Not sure how true but crowd was big and hyped.

ya it was big and the undercard was a real card not ur typical undercard.

[Pigeons]

And they're dropping steadily.

Yes, each successive PBC telecast has had a decrease in ratings.

First card (Thurman-Guerrero main event) averaged 3.374M.
Second card (Garcia-Peterson main event) averaged 2.882M. Decreased by 492K.
Third card (Broner-Porter main event) averaged 2.327M. Decreased by 555K.
Fourth card (Wilder-Duhaupas main event) averaged 2.179M. Decreased by 148K.
Fifth card (Figueroa-DeMarco main event) averaged 1.817M. Decreased by 362K.

My bigger concern is the main event quality. First three were quality, last two were not, and NBC primetime shows were supposed to produce the best quality main events. Figueroa-DeMarco was a joke.

[Hougigo]

Yes, each successive PBC telecast has had a decrease in ratings.

First card (Thurman-Guerrero main event) averaged 3.374M.
Second card (Garcia-Peterson main event) averaged 2.882M. Decreased by 492K.
Third card (Broner-Porter main event) averaged 2.327M. Decreased by 555K.
Fourth card (Wilder-Duhaupas main event) averaged 2.179M. Decreased by 148K.
Fifth card (Figueroa-DeMarco main event) averaged 1.817M. Decreased by 362K.

My bigger concern is the main event quality. First three were quality, last two were not, and NBC primetime shows were supposed to produce the best quality main events. Figueroa-DeMarco was a joke.

Even though 2 fights dropped from the televised card (an they were more intriguing on paper) these shouldn't have been on NBC headlining in the first place

[Check_hooks]

PBC needs to give us Porter vs Thurman

If the #'s drop on that fight than its over

[ThatDude44]

Very solid numbers and those who watched got a great show. I was trapped at a party watching the prelims on FS1 and then the UFC PPV. But watched fight Sun morning before football and loved it.

I will say that UFC is getting more and more popular. I mean i knew of a few fighters oin the card but everyone there knew all fighters and were even talking about already buying the next card with Cain.

Crazy how UFC can have a PPV every week

I think UFCs been kinda quiet since Silva is done and Jones had his issues. Jones is back though.

[R_Walken]

Said it before but while it's a concern that the NBC #s keep slipping

It's still the 6-7 highest watched boxing telecast with Omar Figueroa as the headliner that's impressive. I thought the fight was exciting and Omar and Demarco put on a great show.

But after listening to Omar post fight I don't how many more fights / wars he has in him. Came in massively over weight, sounded like the love was gone and face looked seriously jacked up.

[nivek535]

dont forget, this event conflicted with the UFC event...

[Dr Rumack]

you can say it should have been higher, but the point is that a nobody fighting on network tv gets twice the audience of what a star gets on hbo.

and pbc has every network locked up.

so over time, pbc guys are going to be so more well known than hbo guys that there will be a big shift in power.

not to mention there being far less incentive to subscribe to hbo for the boxing when boxing is so plentiful elsewhere.

That's a compelling vision but the problem Haymon will face is the same problem free-to-air networks face in the 80s and 90s, the premium networks can spend more than they can. There will always be fighters to take that money. And ultimately money is what Haymon's growth has been built on, purses attractive enough to keep fighters in his stable.

But at some point that money has to come from the outfit's operations and not an investment fund. That's the real challenge for Haymon. At present, fighters seem to be getting purses way beyond what the valuation of those fights has been for the premium networks, never mind the basic cable networks. Unless boxing has had a bigger mark-up than ******* in the past, it seems unlikely that Quillin-Jacobs for example returned anything other than a significant loss on its $3m purse, given that it's ratings averaged out at less than 300k on a premium network. That clearly isn't sustainable, even for a premium network.

I also think this notion of HBO being in danger or in trouble is at best overstated, at worst delusional. For example, this is the TBRB P4P list right now:

1. Roman Gonzalez (HBO)
2. Manny Pacquiao (HBO)
3. Timothy Bradley (HBO)
4. Juan Francisco Estrada (Independent, but working on Gonzalez rematch with HBO)
5. Sergey Kovalev (HBO)
6. Gennady Golovkin (HBO)
7. Guillermo Rigondeaux (HBO? - Roc Nation)
8. Naoya Inoue (Independent)
9. Canelo Alvarez (HBO)
10. Terence Crawford (HBO)

Now let’s look at last year’s top performing boxing broadcasts:

1 - Chavez-Vera 2 - 1.39M (HBO)
2 - BHop-Kovalev - 1.328M (HBO)
3 - Golovkin-Rubio - 1.304M (HBO)
4 - Crawford-Gamboa 1.208M (HBO)
5 - Marquez-Alvarado 1.198M (HBO)

6 - Donaire-Walters 1.088M (HBO)
7 - Provodnikov-Algieri 1.046M (HBO)
8 - Salido-Lomachenko 1.017M (HBO)
9 - Kovalev-Cedric Agnew 1.006M (HBO)
10 - Viktor Postol-Aydin 1.002M (HBO)

11 - Kovalev-Caparello 990k (HBO)
12- Golovkin-Geale 984k (HBO)
13 - Pascal-Bute 982k (HBO)
14 - Garcia-Herrera 972k (Showtime)
15 - Bradley-Chaves 966k (HBO)

I don’t interpret these numbers as evidence that HBO is in serious trouble. Haymon’s stable is obviously a very significant factor. He has in essence amassed major supplier power in the industry. But he has done so at great cost and with valuations that appear to be very much out of line with the market norms.

HBO, despite the Haymon conflict (1) can do business with most of the best fighters in the sport and (2) continue to get ratings that are much more in line with historical valuations of fighters and fights. To say that all of this will be swept away by the frankly underwhelming ratings performance of PBC is at odds with the recent history of the sport, and in economic terms somewhat at odds with common sense.