Illegal streams of UFC PPVs potentially costing fighters millions in payouts per PPV

[DapperDave]

If the UFC market is 1 million paying customers and 9 million pirates, and the UFC managed to block all pirated streams over night, the UFC market would still be 1 million paying customers.

The nine million would just move on.

So it would be like driving away 90% of your customers and social-media spice.

 

[TaxCutz]

The people that boast about their illegal streaming are the same ones that complain like children about fighter pay.

 

[Only Here for Attachments]

Obviously actually paying for the content instead of stealing it would be a good start, but a lot of people complain that too little of that goes to the fighters.

But like, y’all can all just give money to fighters. Sherdog, or Reddit could start up a group where people drop $100 a pop and then donate all that money to some fighter you think is being underpaid. There are thousands of active members between here and Reddit who spend a significant amount of their life complaining fighters are underpaid. So pay them. Anyone of these people who cry that Francis is being underpaid could just cut him a check for $30k at anytime.

But it seems people are more on the “they should be paid more, but all of the content should be 100% free and not monetized and I will just steal it if they try to monetize it.” Really hypocritical stuff.

UFC would just ban fighters getting money that way. Dana's idol Vince McMahon banned wrestlers having any unapproved third-party deals

 

[MixMartialFarts]

They should offer the option to pay a reduced amount for just the main event, or co-main + main as often there are the only fights I could be bothered with.

Weird idea but I like it.

 

[chimpoehurricane]

Screwed. He got screwed. Khabib missing weight and Dana not forcing that fight. The Justin fight was a five Rd drumming worse than Rua Jones. Career ending and life altering.

 

[Karl_Hungus]

 

[DebtCollectorMMA]

Costing the UFC brass *

 

[BigGing]

Only idiots payed for Mayweather McGregor

 

[Staph infection]

You are fool to pay for the water down garbage the put out now.

I might considering buying some as an act of kindness if they let fighters have their own fight gear and sponsors. The old way was great with all the different colored shorts and tons of sponsors for each fighter. Now we get ugly generic shit that no one should ever considering buying and the cherry on top is those ugly red the rock sneakers they have to wear now.

 

[Stan]

Really illegal streaming costing fighters millions I doubt it maybe 50-100k at the most. The only ones losing millions on illegal PPV streaming are the greedy UFC brass MF'ers. Fuck the UFC they pay the fighters and champions who put their lives on the line peanuts 15-20% of total revenue while the greedy lazy ass brass sitting safely inside their homes or yachts are taking in the bulk 80-85%. If UFC brass wasn't so greedy by paying the fighters a fair share 45-50% of total revenue, lower the PPV cost or do as the WWE with PPV'S they would get the people watching illegal streams to buy the legal stream instead. i doubt this will ever happen with the UFC so they will continue to lose more and more to illegal streaming.

 

[DestinedAussie]

I highly doubt an organization like UFC didn't perfect their PPV pricing for maximum profits. They likely ran a bunch of different testers at different PPV price points and settled on their current numbers to maximize profits.

It seems the UFC don't set the price because Dana has spoken against the increases the last 2 years and said ESPN set the pricing.

There may be a loss of revenue initially but in the long term it would open the UFC to a much wider audience of fans. What the UFC is doing is limiting their growth in order to maximise revenue now. While I understand that strategy, there are many other companies who prioritise growth to get much larger profits in the future.

The dirty secret might that their research shows the UFC is unlikely to grow much more so chasing growth might not be a good thing instead it is better to squeeze the current fans for everything they can.

 

[Clark Rogers]

Seriously don't see it doubling fighter pay, for a couple reasons.

1- they don't all get PPV points. If recollection is correct, MOST don't.

2 - not streaming illegally =/= buying the PPV. I doubt killing the streamers would have a huge impact on the buy rate, most the folks that aren't paying probably still won't, they just won't watch. Which, in a weird way, should mean less eyes on it.

All said though, they need a new model. The current membership + PPV model sucks, at least for those stuck with it. Aren't there some countries/ areas where it's available on cable or something, outside of ESPN+?

 

[ineverpost]

it's a strawman argument. If you found a way to make it impossible for people to stream PPV then a large portion of them would simply not watch it. That's like saying all the pervs on here would pay for you know what if they couldn't get it for free. Most likely they would all turn into monks and go study kung fu in the mountains.

 

[DapperDave]

Grunts always be like, "Gimme as much as you."

Grunts never be like, "I will start and run a successful business."

If all the entrepreneurs quit and went home, grunts would have no job.

Grunts never remember that simple basic fact.

 

[StonedLemur]

that's if sherdog wasn't just an echo chamber of hard stances. has anyone ever convinced another person on sherdog they were wrong? i never seen it. and exactly how is karate forum discussion going to help the fighter pay?

Just like in real life sir you need to talk to many to find the real few.
Also, nobody knows where the conversation goes if its not allowed to get the wheels.

We could solve world peace if only we could talk about it long enough.

 

[Dbreiden83080]

The people that boast about their illegal streaming are the same ones that complain like children about fighter pay.

True but even in the era of the PPV Buyrate being massive the UFC was pocketing 90% of it and nickel and diming fighters at every turn..

UFC 100 did 1.6 mil buys..

Check out this payout from the main card..

• Jon Fitch: $90,000 (includes $45,000 win bonus) def. Paulo Thiago: $8,000

 

[Sean_wongster_wongmastter]

It seems the UFC don't set the price because Dana has spoken against the increases the last 2 years and said ESPN set the pricing.

There may be a loss of revenue initially but in the long term it would open the UFC to a much wider audience of fans. What the UFC is doing is limiting their growth in order to maximise revenue now. While I understand that strategy, there are many other companies who prioritise growth to get much larger profits in the future.

The dirty secret might that their research shows the UFC is unlikely to grow much more so chasing growth might not be a good thing instead it is better to squeeze the current fans for everything they can.

Remember when UFC had free content on fox? Their ratings sucked and kept dropping as well.

 

[icemun]

I don't know how many people illegally stream PPVs but there is a estimate that 100 million+ people illegally watched Mayweather vs McGregor. Mayweather-McGregor fight most pirated in history (yahoo.com)

Given, that the amount of PPV buys for Mayweather McGregor did around 5 million, you could try to apply a 20X multiple to amount of illegal streams.

That's a lot of money left off the table, even if UFC fighters are only getting 15%-20% of revenue, having revenue jump by increasing PPV buys by that much would substantially increase PPV buy.

Obviously, not all illegal streamers will buy the PPV, so it's hard to determine how many will pay, but I'd bet it'd be enough people to make a dent in fighter pay.

How much do you think illegal streams are costing fighters in terms of their share of the revenue?

If all illegal streams stopped, do you think fighters would at least double their pay?

In a digital age, streams arent being stopped, period. Its a calculated loss

That said, 12% revenue sharing with fighters seems criminal

 

[eighterumg5]

Wonder if that extra 5 dollar increase on ppvs will go to the fighters

 

[Strychnine]

Ok, TS.