ESPN PPV - How does it work?

[Scipio2009]

It's 2018 people...



Buying PPVs is like going to Blockbuster to rent a movie these days.

No one worth anything is going to gamble their fight party on a finnicky stream or the hope that the crowd won't mind it if the commentary is in Portuguese.

What you're willing to tolerate on your own is a different conversation.

[RL_GMA]

No one worth anything is going to gamble their fight party on a finnicky stream or the hope that the crowd won't mind it if the commentary is in Portuguese.

What you're willing to tolerate on your own is a different conversation.

Those are 2005 problems lol. These boxes now have everything running 1080P streaming without any lagging as long as you have high speed internet (which in this day and age just about every domesticated person has). There's a reason why cable subscriptions in the last 2 years have plummeted in the US. People are getting hip to the alternative (and cheaper) route.

[Eff Pandas]

ESPN has done a couple PPV's (not recalling them at the moment doe, believe a more recent one was a Arreola fight), but I don't think they've ever done 500k+ numbers with them & it might be even lower than that (200k+ maybe).

That could be for lotsa reasons doe. Not selling it enough...not selling it outside of ESPN...not a good enough fight to even draw bigger numbers...etc.

[Prince Madison]

How does it work? Well you pay a set amount of money to watch the fight.

[RL_GMA]

ESPN has done a couple PPV's (not recalling them at the moment doe, believe a more recent one was a Arreola fight), but I don't think they've ever done 500k+ numbers with them & it might be even lower than that (200k+ maybe).

That could be for lotsa reasons doe. Not selling it enough...not selling it outside of ESPN...not a good enough fight to even draw bigger numbers...etc.

9 times out of 10 this is what it usually comes down to. A good majority of fights don't belong on PPV in general. When you put on a PPV fight that's in high demand and or one fighter is just THAT popular, it almost always sells.

[Eff Pandas]

9 times out of 10 this is what it usually comes down to. A good majority of fights don't belong on PPV in general. When you put on a PPV fight that's in high demand and or one fighter is just THAT popular, it almost always sells.

People seem to love saying this, but I disagree. There is no such thing as a threshold of PPV quality. I understand whats being said as fans, but thats not the real dynamic in play with making that PPV choice.

Its a money thing. If I can put my fight on HBO & make more money from HBO's rights fees than I'll put the fight on there. If I can put my fight on ESPN & make more money from ESPN rights fees than I'll put the fight on there. But ALSO if I can put my fight on PPV & get enough buys that make me more money there than I'll put my fight on PPV. Thats the decider no one seems to talk about.

Its not unlike films. If I can open it at a theater & make the most thats what I'll do as a filmmaker. If I can sell it to HBO or Netflix & make the most or put it on VOD & make the most or if I can sell it to Lifetime or TBA & make the most any of those options make the most sense.

And obviously your connections matter a lot cuz some cats don't got HBO's or Netflix's number or they aren't even interested so that can limit your options. Plus since its not a cut & dry thing there is also the ability to make a bad call. Maybe ESPN offered you $1M, but you think you can sell 60k PPV's to meet or exceed that number than you would be rolling the dice & could be wrong as well.

[Scipio2009]

What's the potential audience compared to HBO or Showtime? How many people can they reach with an ESPN PPV and do you get it?

Better than the reach of a regular Top Rank Boxing PPV (there's no way that ESPN is actually fronting the money for Pacquiao-Alvarado on PPV) but nowhere near as far as HBOPPV or SHOPPV.

The infrastructure for PPV, generally speaking, is the same for anyone who puts on PPV; the difference comes down to how well the fight is marketed and how many paying customers can they get to know that the fight is on (and convince to pay).

Showtime is available in almost 30 million homes, while HBO is available in almost 37 million homes, both with their audiences already paying $150+ for a year's worth of content; compare that to ESPN, which is available in almost 92 million homes, with no one having to pay specifically for the channel.

Convincing someone to pay for content is the issue

[RL_GMA]

People seem to love saying this, but I disagree. There is no such thing as a threshold of PPV quality. I understand whats being said as fans, but thats not the real dynamic in play with making that PPV choice.

Its a money thing. If I can put my fight on HBO & make more money from HBO's rights fees than I'll put the fight on there. If I can put my fight on ESPN & make more money from ESPN rights fees than I'll put the fight on there. But ALSO if I can put my fight on PPV & get enough buys that make me more money there than I'll put my fight on PPV. Thats the decider no one seems to talk about.

Its not unlike films. If I can open it at a theater & make the most thats what I'll do as a filmmaker. If I can sell it to HBO or Netflix & make the most or put it on VOD & make the most or if I can sell it to Lifetime or TBA & make the most any of those options make the most sense.

And obviously your connections matter a lot cuz some cats don't got HBO's or Netflix's number or they aren't even interested so that can limit your options. Plus since its not a cut & dry thing there is also the ability to make a bad call. Maybe ESPN offered you $1M, but you think you can sell 60k PPV's to meet or exceed that number than you would be rolling the dice & could be wrong as well.

I'm just realistic of the times. Premium cable channels and PPV are so easily accessible these days without purchasing / subscribing it's almost like still going to the store to buy a CD (which is quickly becoming a past time). Of course, there will be fights that genuinely generate a big buzz where it makes sense to put a price tag of the fight which usually are the ones that MAKE THE MONEY. In the years to come its just gonna become THAT much easier to watch Boxing (or any form of Live Entertainment) without a price tag. I mean hell, I watched Ward vs Kovalev 2 on my phone in 1080p HD on the way to a gig. That was 2017, imagine the next few years how much the tech will advance.

[Scipio2009]

Those are 2005 problems lol. These boxes now have everything running 1080P streaming without any lagging as long as you have high speed internet (which in this day and age just about every domesticated person has). There's a reason why cable subscriptions in the last 2 years have plummeted in the US. People are getting hip to the alternative (and cheaper) route.

Do you stream the fights at your party, or is it just you watching.

Cable subscriptions have gone down because of the other ways that folks have to get to content. Why bother with waiting on Sportscenter when you can follow comprehensive sports on sites like Bleacher Report, or watch the full slate of TV shows on services like Hulu, are get your fill for new content on Netflix, or only get the channel that you care to see like with the Showtime app?

To put the entire loss on "folks are better at stealing content" is silly.

There are 24 hours in a day; between the 8 hours of sleep and the 10 hours of work (8-hour shift, lunch, commute to/from), the general person has 6 hours to do with as they wish. People have more and more ways to utilize that time that has less and less to do with paying for cable, full stop

[Eff Pandas]

I'm just realistic of the times.

I don't see how what I said is counter to the times.

Sure lotsa people are cutting cords & etc these days & things will probably be way different looking in 10yrs than it looks today, but that doesn't mean a low level PPV isn't a more profitable option vs what a CBS Sports offer might be to air it cuz some cats are still using PPV & haven't cut the cord.

That why there isn't really such a thing as a non-PPV worthy fight business-wise.