The current, undisputed middleweight champion of the world drew about 1.1 million live viewers for his most recent bout against Gary Lockett on HBO. It was one of the lowest rated World Championship Boxing programs of all-time.
Exactly how much money did they spend on it? Somewhere in the region 2,750,000 frog skins.
None of this really matters as I?ve soon come to understand that inside of boxing?s niche are niches within niches. To better explain this, I liken it to a selection of music. We all listen to some sort of tunes in one form or another but it doesn?t necessarily translate to liking all music. Hip-hop heads don?t tend to embrace country, rock, or techno and vice versa for each and every genre of music. It?s just the way it is and it?s the same way in boxing.
Not every “boxing fan” around enjoys every single match or even bothers to tune into every fight.
The genres in boxing are as follows:
The super casual fan who might tune into an Oscar De la Hoya fight once a year.
The De la Hoya/Heavyweight fan who only watches the ?Golden Boy? and the perceived heavyweight champion perform.
The nationalistic fan that follows fighters from their own countries? think Puerto Rico or Mexico.
The national icon fanatics who solely follow one fighter from their nation? think Hatton or Pacquiao.
The weight class junkies who tend to gravitate towards certain divisions over others? think Ricardo Lois and his mosquitoes or Jennifer Meyers and her heavyweights.
The ?style? fans that follow any fighter that incorporates a particular way of fighting? think Larry Merchant and buckets of blood.
The regional fans that tend to support whatever fighter is located in their general region or location? think Kelly Pavlik or John Duddy.
Finally? last but not least, the full-blown boxing junkie that subscribes to Showtime, HBO, as well as most of the Pay-Per-Views in order to get their boxing fix. Have you ever seen one of these beasts in person? They are truly the most fascinating and disgusting creatures to stumble around the face of the earth.
Oh yes, back to the ratings for the Pacquiao-Diaz replay.
The Nielsen numbers are as follows: 568,000 total viewers.
That figure is not bad at all for being delayed a week and not having to shell out close to $3 million in order to broadcast. While I don?t know the figures for how much HBO pays or paid to rebroadcast their Pay-Per-View distributed bouts, I can assume that they are miniscule in comparison to their regular television fees.
This is why it brings up my assumption that? HBO Pay-Per-View benefits both HBO as well as the fighters in the short-term. Here?s an excerpt from an article written earlier this year by Thomas Hauser of secondsout.com regarding HBO-PPV:
It?s certainly bad for HBO?s subscribers. But it might be good for HBO?s parent company, Time Warner.
When a fight is on HBO-PPV, instead of spending money in the form of a license fee, HBO is taking in money from its subscribers and others. What sort of profit does HBO make from pay-per-view? We keep hearing, ?It isn?t as much as you think it is.? But there is a profit for HBO Sports, and there?s a far greater profit for Time Warner.
When a fight is on pay-per-view, more than fifty cents of every dollar in pay-per-view revenue goes to the cable or satellite company that provides the signal to consumers and the ?clearing houses? through which pay-per-view telecasts are sold to cable and satellite system operators.
Time Warner Cable is the second-largest cable operator in the United States with more than 13,000,000 basic video subscribers. Moreover, roughly ninety percent of the homes in the United States that are addressable by cable for pay-per-view telecasts are ?cleared? by a company called In-Demand. In Demand is owned by Comcast, Cox Communications, and Time Warner.
Financial gain comes in many ways.
Just to make the connection clear, Time Warner owns HBO.
Why would HBO continue to spend millions of dollars on bouts that don?t garner significantly higher ratings when they could actually make a couple bucks while replaying Pay-Per-View bouts? Sure some might state that the difference between 568,000 viewers and 1.1 million is much too much to overlook. However, the differences on the amount of money spent and the amount of money made might make it a bit easier to shrug off that differential.
While I?ve ranted for quite some time now that boxing?s viewership has fallen to embarrassing levels, I just happen to now believe that boxing in itself has fragmented itself into niche programming. Pacquiao fans might not necessarily watch Pavlik bouts whose fans might not necessarily watch Miguel Cotto fights, etc. etc. etc.
It?s just the way the world has changed over the past decade and it reflects itself in our favorite sport of fisticuffs.
While I still do believe that boxing could definitely improve in marketing itself as a whole rather than merely specific fighters, I do comprehend that boxing has always been a niche inside a niche to a certain extent. It?s the same reason as to why De la Hoya is able to garner so many purchases when he chooses to fight as all those separate niches tend to gravitate towards his events.
In any case, HBO?s boxing program seems to benefit financially from hosting even the most unsuccessful shows on Pay-Per-View. I guess things will only change once purchase rates and ratings fall to levels that are considered unacceptable. Who knows when or where that point is?
All I know is that it is a bit disheartening that the highest grossing Pay-Per-View of this year involved the best fighters of ten years ago rather than the present. It?s something for the mongrels to think about as we reach the half-way point of 2008?
PS. I?m not being negative. I?m merely stating facts? am I not?
