Now I'm not an expert on this, and anybody who is feel free to correct me, but from what I know there's no way to view how many viewers a PPV actually gets at different times throughout the broadcast. PPV numbers just represent the amount of buys the event received. People can stop watching the event whenever they want, and the PPV buy number will never lower throughout the night, only grow as more people buy the event. This is different from having the fight placed on say Fox or FX, where it is possible to see the different amount of viewers at different times during the event. If Ronda/Carmouche was placed on cable, then it would be a terrible scandal if say the event peaks with its amount of viewers in any fight other than the main event, and drops terribly during Ronda/Carmouche (as most people seem to expect it would do as they seem to plan on just watching as far as Hendo/Machida). This information would be readily available to the media and would get out quite quickly that people were not interested in watching WMMA (if said scenario were to occur - it's also possible that Ronda/Carmouche could get the most amount of views). Having the fight on PPV is thus the safer option as their is no possibility of the numbers lowering during the night, only growing. Dana White and the UFC were incredibly smart to put this fight as a PPV for the first WMMA fight as it represents a great litmus test for Ronda's popularity and does perfect damage control if the event isn't popular. If the event gets terrible buys, say 150,000, the only number available to the public is 150,000 buys. This is much better than the event averaging 3-5 million views all night on Fox, then suddenly dropping to 1 million for Ronda/Carmouche. If it does great buys, the UFC makes a lot of money and can legit call Ronda a star. If it doesn't do great numbers Dana can always blame the economy or say fans are stupid like they do when people don't buy cards. All in all, smart move by the UFC not to make their first female fight available on cable as many have suggested they should have done
I don't think the number of viewers would drop from say 3 million down to 1 million just because of a bad main event. I think most people who are already sitting in-front of the TV will continue to watch until the event is over. Having a PPV do horrible numbers just proves that Ronda is not a draw since most people seem to buy a PPV based on the Main and co-main event.
I agree that PPV numbers show popularity better than cable numbers, just you can bet your ass that Dana will probably try and blame the economy or the stupid fans if no one buys the PPV. If no one watches the fight on free tv, then their in a bad place and have no one to blame and would have wasted their money on Ronda
Those who pay for the event will view it from start to finish. I don't see many people buying it just for Machida/Henderson. Though it will likely be a excellent fight, Lyoto/Dan doesn't have what it takes to be a PPV headlining fight.
Yes that would be a real test, the problem is that Dana is too smart to do something like that since he knows it would fail miserably. I think the only for the UFC to do good PPV numbers is if they stack the card so that people will buy it even if they are not that interested in the main event.
This is true. But in all honesty. Adding the Carmouche Rhonda fight will help the card, I'm just not sure they should have made it the main event...
And covered them in babyoil. The winner would be the one who could pin the other to the ground for 30 seconds.
Firstly, all the social media information I've seen (twitter/facebook followers, tv show appearances, etc.) suggest that Rhonda has plenty of star power and will pull in a decent, if not spectacular number of PPV buys. Secondly, if the long sought Arianny vs. Brittany baby oil match takes place the sales will be astronomical.
I understand why it's supposed to be the main event, but I'm not complaining that much as I like Henderson's chances against Machida much better in a 3 round fight than in a 5 round fight :icon_chee If Henderson/Shogun had been a 3 round fight that's very different than the Henderson/Shogun in a 5 round decision (very dominant win for Hendo if it had been a 3 rounder, still a win for Henderson or at best a draw for Shogun in the 5 round fight). So I'm not exactly complaining that Henderson gets 3 rounds as that's when he's best Back to the topic, if I buy the fights I'll probably watch the main event. If I just go to the bar like normal I'm probably leaving after Hendo/Machida and youtubing the fight the next day if it turned out to be a good one
its not like Dan and Machida are big PPV draw either, The first WMMA in ufc is probably bigger draw to the causal fans than Dan vs Machida.
I'm not convinced it was a mistake, business-wise, to make Ronda vs Carmouche the main event. It all depends on how much money has gone into marketing the fight. BUT... I do think Dana would get a shit storm from female fans (of which there are many) and a lot of male WMMA fans if he didn't make it a title fight, after saying in the past (in reference to discussion about featherweight title fights) that a championship fight is always going to be the main event. At the time, people were questinoning the idea that someone like Mighty Mouse should get be the main event, even if on the same card as a #2 ranked LHW, who would be a much bigger star. It would be very hypocritical of Dana to change his mind on account of women, and he's already struggling with an undeserved reputation of being intolerant of gays.
Seems intelligent. I am pretty sure Dana expects rousey to win quickly and easily, and be a very marketable women's champion for the UFC. Question is, will she lose the belt fairly quick once competition increases? It's hard to imagine her being unbeatable.
