Should UFC be lowering PPV price, not raising?

[Hardcore MMA]

The UFC recently bumped its PPV price $5 to $54.99 SD and $64.99 HD. With the current trend of low PPV buys, do you think the UFC should actually be lowering its PPV price instead of raising it?

There are multiple upcoming cards that are expected to have low PPV buys, especially with the main event change of UFC 222. There are too many mediocre cards every month that is causing a lack of interest in fans to fork out $55 to watch. IMO, if I'm going to pay $55 for a card, it better be stacked.

With the downward trend in PPV buys, it actually makes sense for the UFC to drop the price for certain cards. I think the UFC should go about a dynamic procing model for its PPV cards. Sure, you can charge $65 for a card that Conor or GSP are headlining, but not a card headlined by Cyborg vs Kunitskaya.

If the UFC lowered its PPV price for certain cards, it could attract a larger buy number, which leads to larger viewership #s. This would then lead to the UFC having more bargaining power with broadcasting companies for its TV deal, as well as its sponsors and advertisers. I think the UFC is hurting itself by raising the price at a time when less people are willing to buy cards that aren't stacked. Thoughts?

 

[Goatenstein]

They should pay us to watch their fucking c-level cards.

 

[FinalConflict2005]

Should be $24.99 and not a penny more.

 

[grimballer]

Ppv? Are we in the 90s?

 

[Hardcore MMA]

They should pay us to watch their fucking c-level cards.

They could always offer "seat filler PPVs" like Bellator does for its actual live events. Boost the numbers by giving away free PPV codes when the buys don't meet expectations. Lol

 

[trident]

Should be $24.99 and not a penny more.

This.

If you have two or more title fights, I'd handle a slight increase, but the cards are not worth more, and honestly, they would likely sell a lot more with a lower price.

The price keeps people away. At a time when you need more eyes on the fights, they have employed a two-fold system of keeping people away: lack luster cards + high prices.

Thats going to equate to oblivion if it keeps up.

 

[Deleted member 448575]

I don't know anything about the situation in the US. I'm from Europe. The UFC offers their PPVs through the Fight Pass platform for the Europeans. Used to be around 15 bucks a few years ago, now it's 25 bucks. The main card starts at 4am though, so I rarely stay up unless it's a stacked card.

 

[SeattleFightFan]

With the downward trend in PPV buys, it actually makes sense for the UFC to drop the price for certain cards. I think the UFC should go about a dynamic procing model for its PPV cards.

i have little reason to believe that twice as many people would buy a card if it were $30.

and i have every reason to believe that the resentment over the higher priced PPV's would drive some fans bonkers.

alas, the times of stacked cards are over. the good news is, we have more free MMA. accept the good with the bad, i say.
~~~
PS on a barely related topic, i remember when Bushido 9 came out. one of the most stacked events ever. definitely the most stacked LW event ever. it was $20. it barely sold. i think 50k? i cannot find the answer on google.

but the point is, it was $20. and even many knowledgeable MMA fans on sherdog didn't bother with it, mostly because a) it wasn't UFC and b) the time start (Sunday afternoon if my memory serves me correctly). so because it was inconvenient and not UFC, one of the sickest MMA cards ever - at half price - barely sold in the US.

and if it were $10 it wouldn't have sold more.

 

[EndlessCritic]

alas, the times of stacked cards are over.

200, 205, 207, 214, and 217 were all stacked by any measure.

 

[Morning Star]

I know they'll never do it but it should be a sliding scale based on demand and quality.

 

[HectorG]

$10. Put it all on fight pass.

 

[SeattleFightFan]

200, 205, 207, 214, and 217 were all stacked by any measure.

i probably would have said 189, 200 and 205, but i get your point. (EDIT on second thought and to nitpick my own argument, maybe 189 wasn't stacked - per se - just lived up to it's potential more than any other card in recent memory...IMO)

words (and concepts) like 'never' and 'always' should probably be avoided.

 

[KeepItRealist]

I don't get it either. $50 was bad enough. Pretty soon it will be $70.

Dana: Just invite a dozen of your closest friends and have them pitch in $5 each. It's so cheap! Make it a party!

If you are going to that, why wouldn't you just go to a bar or restaurant? Some charge a cover during UFC cards of like $10 at most, others don't even do that. And the UFC charges bars and restaurants like $1200-$1500 per card. It's no wonder that not many places have them. One would think the UFC would prefer having more places showing their events.

 

[catchwrestle]

Might be time to consider a WWE Network type platform. Might be more than $10 a month but some sort of set fee.

 

[Tugboat]

I don’t buy them anyway. They’ve been too expensive for quite a while.

 

[chitoortiz]

Lower PPV prices?

 

[Shaddows]

The UFC recently bumped its PPV price $5 to $54.99 SD and $64.99 HD. With the current trend of low PPV buys, do you think the UFC should actually be lowering its PPV price instead of raising it?

There are multiple upcoming cards that are expected to have low PPV buys, especially with the main event change of UFC 222. There are too many mediocre cards every month that is causing a lack of interest in fans to fork out $55 to watch. IMO, if I'm going to pay $55 for a card, it better be stacked.

With the downward trend in PPV buys, it actually makes sense for the UFC to drop the price for certain cards. I think the UFC should go about a dynamic procing model for its PPV cards. Sure, you can charge $65 for a card that Conor or GSP are headlining, but not a card headlined by Cyborg vs Kunitskaya.

If the UFC lowered its PPV price for certain cards, it could attract a larger buy number, which leads to larger viewership #s. This would then lead to the UFC having more bargaining power with broadcasting companies for its TV deal, as well as its sponsors and advertisers. I think the UFC is hurting itself by raising the price at a time when less people are willing to buy cards that aren't stacked. Thoughts?

I kind of disagree.
I mean, the logic is sound, but you fail at greed like the UFC.

They know their card suck.... and yet those guys buy it anyway.

So that means they are hardcore people who will watch two ants fighting.
So they raise the price, keep the card as watered down as possible and cash on those poor souls that don't care about their money or the value the card should have (for that money)...

 

[Rod Farva]

Or

Put out a card worth $65

 

[juanM3]

I couldn't believe it. They raised the price again at a time where many of the recent and upcoming PPVs are not worth it or downright awful. Seriously how can they expect people to pay those prices for 1 or 2 good fights??

I'm fine with the PPV price for worthy cards. For last year that was things like 211, 214, 217, and 218. But most were not.

I would buy more if the price was relative to the quality, but they would never do that. In that case they really need to cut down on the events. I like lots of MMA but it's to the point where there is just too many "who da fook" fighters. And they even have had some terrible "big FOX" and FS1 cards. Given that they don't have enough names to fill the number of cards, you'd think they would make some changes. However it seems their plan is to just let the ratings and PPV buys slide anyway.

 

[kevinramsdell]

Stipe vs Ngannou was $70 for me on Verizon fios