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- Jan 5, 2011
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The UFC, by protecting their digital content so fiercely, actually hurts their growth. (IMO)
I understand WHY they do it, but here is my reasoning on why they shouldn't.
1) Over the past 8 years or so, I've had about 100 people come up to me and ask me about the UFC / MMA. They are on the verge of becoming fans and are interested in learning more about the sport. They ask for names they should know, and fights they should watch. Like most fans, I have a list of 10 need to see fights that would turn these people into lifelong fans. (ex: Shogun Hendo 1)
By not being able to provide a youtube link to a high quality version of the fight, there's no easy way to watch this fight for the barely casual fan. They are ready to become a hardcore fan, and actively interested, but most don't have the technical know-how or care enough to search through mmaversus.com or something like that to watch it.
So they never end up watching the fights I tell them they need to watch, and either lose interest or remain a casual fan.
Huge Missed Opportunity.
2) Fan trailers ---- Those who have followed to sport long enough are familiar with NickTheFace. The guy used to make these epic trailers for fights that I'd end up watching 30 times and get extremely fired up for the fights. These are videos I could post on my facebook or text to a friend and suddenly I've exposed 2,000 potentially interested people to a 2:30 trailer for an upcoming fight.
But the UFC hated this, and would always take these trailers down. Some of the trailers had a few million views. They were that good, and that well shared. -- But the UFC takes them down and I'm no longer able to quickly promote a fight I care about to my network of casuals who MIGHT care about it.
Huge Missed Opportunity.
3) Fighter highlights / profiles. -- Unless you're a star and get a PPV headlined -- the UFC is not going to give you an embedded or any sort of countdown show. Those shows do a lot of good in helping casuals relate to a fighter or get emotionally invested. Sometimes they only show the video right before the main event, which is a miss because you'd have to be watching the event in the first place.
There should be a 3-5 minute video of (nearly) every fighter on their roster, with a simple breakdown of consistency.
1-2 Minutes explain your background / life / problems / bio / why I should care
1 minute training montage or something
1 minute of highlights of your fights
This way I can see a fighter perform and look them up and get to know them more "personally". This really helps get my girlfriend interested in the fights. If she's able to watch a little background of the fighters she can pick a fighter she wants to win and she's much more engaged in the actual fight when it's on. Otherwise she'll pretend to watch and be on her phone.
Huge Missed Opportunity.
Thoughts? Do you think the UFC is managing their digital content well?
I understand WHY they do it, but here is my reasoning on why they shouldn't.
1) Over the past 8 years or so, I've had about 100 people come up to me and ask me about the UFC / MMA. They are on the verge of becoming fans and are interested in learning more about the sport. They ask for names they should know, and fights they should watch. Like most fans, I have a list of 10 need to see fights that would turn these people into lifelong fans. (ex: Shogun Hendo 1)
By not being able to provide a youtube link to a high quality version of the fight, there's no easy way to watch this fight for the barely casual fan. They are ready to become a hardcore fan, and actively interested, but most don't have the technical know-how or care enough to search through mmaversus.com or something like that to watch it.
So they never end up watching the fights I tell them they need to watch, and either lose interest or remain a casual fan.
Huge Missed Opportunity.
2) Fan trailers ---- Those who have followed to sport long enough are familiar with NickTheFace. The guy used to make these epic trailers for fights that I'd end up watching 30 times and get extremely fired up for the fights. These are videos I could post on my facebook or text to a friend and suddenly I've exposed 2,000 potentially interested people to a 2:30 trailer for an upcoming fight.
But the UFC hated this, and would always take these trailers down. Some of the trailers had a few million views. They were that good, and that well shared. -- But the UFC takes them down and I'm no longer able to quickly promote a fight I care about to my network of casuals who MIGHT care about it.
Huge Missed Opportunity.
3) Fighter highlights / profiles. -- Unless you're a star and get a PPV headlined -- the UFC is not going to give you an embedded or any sort of countdown show. Those shows do a lot of good in helping casuals relate to a fighter or get emotionally invested. Sometimes they only show the video right before the main event, which is a miss because you'd have to be watching the event in the first place.
There should be a 3-5 minute video of (nearly) every fighter on their roster, with a simple breakdown of consistency.
1-2 Minutes explain your background / life / problems / bio / why I should care
1 minute training montage or something
1 minute of highlights of your fights
This way I can see a fighter perform and look them up and get to know them more "personally". This really helps get my girlfriend interested in the fights. If she's able to watch a little background of the fighters she can pick a fighter she wants to win and she's much more engaged in the actual fight when it's on. Otherwise she'll pretend to watch and be on her phone.
Huge Missed Opportunity.
Thoughts? Do you think the UFC is managing their digital content well?
