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

[PKing]

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?

[djt117]

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

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

[PKing]

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

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

But Game of Thrones has average over 6 million viewers on HBO...

[Rich2123]

But Game of Thrones has average over 6 million viewers on HBO...

GOT also kills everything else on HBO.

Also, if that number is correct (and I don't doubt your research) GOT on average draws over 2 million than the biggest PBC cards on network TV which were available in way more homes.

GOT is more popular than any boxing that isn't Floyd vs Manny.

[djt117]

But Game of Thrones has average over 6 million viewers on HBO...

Yes and the Sopranos routinely pulled 8-10 million for years. Which proves my point. Thanks for playing

[Nubia]

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.

[PKing]

GOT also kills everything else on HBO.

Also, if that number is correct (and I don't doubt your research) GOT on average draws over 2 million than the biggest PBC cards on network TV which were available in way more homes.

GOT is more popular than any boxing that isn't Floyd vs Manny.

And that is the reason HBO boxing is in trouble. They cannot even compete with their own channel.

[TBear]

I assume it is very healthy. My subscription to 20 of their channels depends on it. I imagine they know that often their ratings reflect what they are giving us. So I assume HBO will continue to strive to give us the best matchups and contests that can be made.

[PKing]

I assume it is very healthy. My subscription to 20 of their channels depends on it. I imagine they know that often their ratings reflect what they are giving us. So I assume HBO will continue to strive to give us the best matchups and contests that can be made.

30-1 odds do reflect the truth I guess... LOL

[Rich2123]

And that is the reason HBO boxing is in trouble. They cannot even compete with their own channel.

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.