UFC 142 sold 225,000 pay-per-view buys according to Dave Meltzer in the latest Wrestling Observer (subscription required). While low, this is quite a respectable number given the circumstances. Firstly the event was held in Brazil and the reduced domestic press coverage for overseas events always hurts business in North America. Secondly the card was headlined by a featherweight title fight between Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes and the smaller guys have yet to prove themselves as reliable PPV draws.
It's important to also note that Meltzer said some estimates of the numbers for UFC 142 were much higher than the reported number.
Let's look at the reported numbers for recent PPVs for comparison (all estimates per Wikipedia):
It's appearing to be just slightly below where UFC 136 (Edgar vs. Maynard III) ended up and would be one of the lowest numbers in years, but all of that was expected, given it was not a strong marquee card and shows that emanate from outside North America generally do a lot worse. This would appear to be the UFC's current baseline number, since this show was from Brazil and was going against the Broncos playoff game. It did better in Canada and Australia. It's possible the late controversy regarding Anthony Johnson's weight called some late attention to the show and may have helped it slightly.
0 recs | 83 comments
It’s understandable. Too bad so many people missed out on an amazing card. Then again, the same can be said of the last one in Brazil.
MicahtheCynic - January 26, 2012
Those are some sad numbers, they really are going to hurt this year without Brock and GSP
Damn your puffy guts, Brock!!!!
menckenstein - January 26, 2012
I was just thinking the exact same thing.
WIth GSP out injured and Brock now retired, the UFC have lost two of their biggest draws. The Jon Jones PPV are pretty decent, but I don’t think fighters such as JDS, Velasquez, Overeem, Edgar and Aldo have anywhere near the same pulling power as someone like Brock.
Hopefully, now there is TV deal with FOX, this will help to establish fighters with the casual fans.
@KatanaClothing - January 26, 2012
I didn't buy it.
This was one of the first PPV in a long time that I neither paid for or went to a bar to watch. I was not interested and I wanted to watch the Broncos playoff game.
Crazynutts - January 26, 2012
Judo toe?
Skoobs - January 26, 2012
Kicking a curb.
Not intentional though.
Crazynutts - January 28, 2012
Is Meltzer now including overseas sales in his estimates?
His original estimate for UFC 140 was around 440K domestic & 480K worldwide. Did he revise that? And by his comments that UFC 142 did better in Canada and Australia suggests that he is now including worldwide totals.
John Nash - January 26, 2012
i got these figures from wikipedia
who cite Meltzer but I assume you’re correct and they include world-wide buys. my bad. thanks for catching.
Kid Nate - January 26, 2012
According to Bob Arum, this event did zero buys.
Machiel Van - January 26, 2012
Those numbers are just North America. Canada isn’t considered an international market like the UK or Australia. The 140 number was revised as he put up in his year end article on yahoo.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news?slug=dm-meltzer_pay_per_view_pacquiao_010412
Dpez71 - January 26, 2012
I realize that when he lists his North American estimates he is including Canada, but when explaining why it sold 225k he mentions that it was a foreign event, faced competition against football, and did well in Canada and Australia, as if they played a part in the sales.
And his year end article doesn’t make it clear that those are only North American numbers for every event. In addition, it’s odd that the new revised number would match his previous world wide estimate. And nowhere does he mention the number 485,000 which is what MMAPayout went with. Also this comment from MMAPayout
Seems to suggest that UFC 135 actually did 475,000 in North America. I just want some clarity from Meltzer.Buy Rate
John Nash - January 26, 2012
He specifies when discussing the Wrestlemania number saying it did 680k in North America and an additional 400k worldwide. Wouldn’t make sense to use domestic numbers for some events and worldwide on others on the same list.
The initial 440 domestic and 480 worldwide for 140 came from the newsletter that comes out 4 days after the event. They usually get revised later as it appears both Jones shows did a little better than originally expected.
Dpez71 - January 26, 2012
damn! that's the lowest selling UFC PPV since UFC 85 which sold for 215,000 back in 08
darkotto23 - January 26, 2012
it did as well as UFC 136 or UFC 125
Kid Nate - January 26, 2012
as far as i know both of those shows outsold UFC 142
UFC 125 sold for 270,000 PPV buys, and UFC 136 sold for 250,000
darkotto23 - January 26, 2012
nvm, just checked wiki and apparently 136 sold only 225,000 buys making it just as bad as UFC 142
darkotto23 - January 26, 2012
for comparison UFC 2, UFC 5, and UFC 6 all sold more PPV's than UFC 142
darkotto23 - January 26, 2012
SEG>Zuffa
Anr - January 26, 2012
Spectacle and social intrigue gets more eyes than legitimate, world-class competition. Ask Kimbo Slice.
Machiel Van - January 26, 2012
Kimbo Slice is UFC level
Anr - January 26, 2012
Don’t be silly, there’s no UFC 142 competitor on a level with Fred Ettish and Remco Pardoel
forkboy - January 26, 2012
They had to compete with Tim Tebow
That definitely played a huge part
Hashmo - January 26, 2012
Having a non-draw as headliner
With almost no star power other than Belfort played the huge part
SSreporters - January 26, 2012
Totally understandable number
If it was a card in the US, I imagine it would have done around 2.75
Its also an acceptable number because Zuffa is using it as a way to spearhead and build up a potentially HUUUGE brazil market. Got to spend money to make it.
It is unfortunate though that so few people saw the card. There were a TON of great fights and Barboza could have picked up some real steam in the US. That said, the steam was translated into Brazil where it may do even better.
Cocytus - January 26, 2012
Giveaway too
Don’t forget they gave away free views on Xbox Live as an apology for UFC 141’s lousy stream. That’s how I watched it.
Flashking - January 26, 2012 via mobile
What the...?
How did I miss this?? Damn it
BKdroid - January 26, 2012
That was only about 30k when all is said and done, though.
menckenstein - January 26, 2012
Which puts the total at a very nice 255,000.
T.C. Engel - January 26, 2012
I strongly doubt
That all 30K would have bought the PPV.
wonderfulspam - January 26, 2012
yeah that is how I watched it
T.P. Grant - January 26, 2012
So does this number include those who bought the card online from UFC.tv?
mburtoni - January 26, 2012
I thought it wasgoing to be lower than that.
Rampage01 - January 26, 2012
When you go up against the NFL playoffs, you will lose everytime.
sklart - January 26, 2012
Shame
As it was the best UFC for as LONG as I can remember.
taptomyarmbar - January 26, 2012
I remember Snowden not being impressed with the card
on twitter >.<
TylerTreese - January 26, 2012
Really? I can't believe it
Snowden is not a writer known to say controversial stuff to stir the pot.
Triangled - January 26, 2012
Did he do a slideshow about it?
MicahtheCynic - January 26, 2012
Mjub - January 26, 2012
For real?
That was a fucking awesome card, no doubt.
All finishes on the main card, when was the last time that happened?
taptomyarmbar - January 27, 2012
Yeah it was great but then
I’m not afraid of entertainment that takes place outside of the US
UncleMax - January 26, 2012
Not bad at all
I was expecting it to go into the 100K mark since it was against the Tebows and the rest of the NFL playoffs
HaterSlayer - January 26, 2012
The sky is falling!
Zachary Kater - January 26, 2012
This is what happens when you have too events (PPVs) in a short period of time.
UFC 141 – 12/31/11
UFC 142 – 01/14/12
Only a two week gap between two $60 ppvs in a time when everyone is recovering from holiday spending, and not only that, it did not have a strong promotion effort backing it since the UFC put most of their push behind 141. It also didn’t help the UFC with the fact that Jose Aldo wasn’t much of a draw yet, and Chad Mendes, while also not a draw, had only fought on prelims prior to his first headlining ppv event
UFC 137 – 10/29/11
UFC 138 – 11/05/11
UFC on FOX – 11/12/11
UFC 139 – 11/19/11
139 was that last in a row of 4 UFC events in 4 weeks, three of them being free. 139 also had sub-300K buys because of lack of promotion, and the audience simply being either burned out on watching UFC events at the time, opting to save their money for a later event, or had something else worth watching going on at the same time.
My main solution would be to cut ppvs back to the 11 or 12 per year like they had in 2009 and 2010. One ppv per month would give the UFC and appropriate amount of time to promote each event with the care they do for events like UFC 126, 129, and 141, leaving fans feeling deprived during the long breaks between each one. I don’t know about you guys, but the lack of ppvs last April was really refreshing and really made me excited to watch UFC 129 at my friend’s house. Right now, it’s hard to really look forward to a ppv because we get too much too regularly, like a person losing that great “pick me up” feeling from coffee after drinking them daily for a long time.
amendamatrix - January 26, 2012
Only $6.99 in the Netherlands :-)
Chris P. Bacon - January 26, 2012 via Android app
For real? where? I live in Flevoland, so I guess I would be inside of the regional coverage!
Carlos Estrada-Ibars Martínez - January 27, 2012
You have to order/watch online at ufc.tv
I’ve done it a couple of times now, never had any blackouts or problems. Only thing is, it’s not quite HD quality, but for only €5 I won’t complain about that :-)
Chris P. Bacon - January 27, 2012
the ufc had 16 PPV events in 2011, only one more than they did in 2010, yet in 2010 they posted record numbers in PPV sales
i think over saturation is definitely a cause for the low PPV numbers, but i don’t think it’s the main problem. I think it has more to do with star power, and the changing of the guard.
In 2010 the UFC had GSP fighting twice, Brock fighting twice, they had the epic Rashad vs Rampage fight, plus they still had stars like Chuck Liddell, Anderson Silva and BJ Penn to round out the main events.
In 2011 the UFC only had 3 PPV events sell for more than 500,000 PPV buys and they were headlined by GSP, Anderson Silva, and Brock Lesnar. The only other fighter that came close was Jon Jones who headlined 3 PPV’s in 2011 for an average of 458,333 buys per event.
I think the major reason why the UFC had such a down year in 2011 is because their PPV’s were being headlined by guys like Frankie Edgar (who averaged less than 250,000 buys per event in 2011 ), Jose Aldo, Junior Dos Santos, Dominick Cruz who although they are the best in their respective weight classes they aren’t stars.
darkotto23 - January 26, 2012
You're right, there were 15 ppvs in 2010. 120, and 122 were free overseas events on tape delay.
But still my point still stands, there shouldn’t have been more than 1 ppv per month in general, so 13 ppvs per year is more reasonable for me. Last year, February, August, and December each had two ppv events on them and one of those ppvs were almost always treated like an after-thought in the promotion efforts. Did the UFC need to have 127, 133, and 140 as separate ppv cards? I think Jon Jones could have gotten the exposure he needed if he was on the same card as Brock, and all of the other good fights from the those “unneeded” cards could have been shifted to events that needed 1 or 2 more good fights attached to it.
Hopefully this network deal goes well and Fox pays more for UFC content 7 years from now so the UFC can start earning enough revenue on ad-supported events to run less ppvs.
amendamatrix - January 26, 2012
i agree that a 1 PPV per month system would be ideal, but they still aren't going to sell big #'s until they build new stars
You mention that they had 2 PPV’s in December of last year, but since they were headlined by big names (Lesnar, Jones, and Machida) they were both successful (800,000 and 480,000).
For example, in 2010 the UFC held 2 events in may (UFC 113 & 114), and 2 events in August (UFC 117 & 118), yet all 4 events were successful (520,000 & 1,050,000 – 600,000 & 570,000 buys respectively) because they had stars (Machida, Rampage, Rashad, Anderson, BJ Penn).
Remember the run the UFC was on from UFC 111 to UFC 118? They held 8 PPV’s (plus the Free cards the strikeforce shows, and the WEC shows) in 6 moths yet they were all extremely successful (721,250 avg) because of the big names.
I think in the end the casual fans care more about the big names than they do about how often the PPV’s are happening.
darkotto23 - January 26, 2012
I think it would be easier to build stars if those prospective stars like JBJ fought on the same card as Brock or GSP, instead of flying solo.
Lesnar - Out for nearly all of 2011 due to TUF and diverticulitis
GSP - Fought once in April, waited 6 months to fight again but severely injured at the last minute. He’ll likely have 0-1 fights in 2012 due the recovery.
Rampage - only fought twice, but one of those fights was against a non-contender in Matt Hamill, and there wasn’t enough “beef” between him and Jones to match 114’s numbers.
Silva - Silva is not a big draw unless he has a high profile feud with his opponent. Silva-Belfort and Silva-Sonnen fits the bill, but Silva-Okami brought things back to reality about his drawing power. Note: big draw as in drawing ppv buys.
I think the UFC should consolidate their bigger fights on to fewer ppvs and up the buy-rates on already strong cards. If I had the option to get 500K-700K buys on one event versus < 350K buys from two different cards, I’d take the single event that can potentially hit in the 500K-700K range because I won’t have to spend twice the amount of money promoting, securing venues, paying fighter’s travel , and other expenses the UFC regularly has for every event they put on. This would be good for everyone, even Dana since he won’t have to travel nearly as much and stress himself out like he usually does.
One more thing, GSP fought on UFC 79, UFC 87, and UFC 100. What do those three cards have in common? GSP, after being a Jon Jones level ppv draw since winning the title the first time, piggybacked on cards featuring far greater draws than himself such as Chuck Liddell and Brock lesnar. UFC 94, had GSP in a rematch with LW champ BJ Penn that was hyped as much as Rampage-Evans was, and drew a lot of attention from casuals. After those 4 ppvs, GSP has now been headlining ppv cards for the most part on his own, and he’s now doing 700K+ every time now. I think there is a formula to making an exciting champion a GSP-like star, you need to have that champion, for example Jon Jones, piggyback off of headliners like GSP, and Lesnar as much as possible, and hope he puts on beautiful performances under the biggest spotlight possible. After the champion has had time in the spotlight, promote the hell out of any legitimate rivalry he may have with another contender and treat it like it is the biggest grudge match of the sport with a creative promotional angle so that the outside media, like ESPN, will be actually interested in covering it. Jon Jones already has Rashad Evans as a good rival, should he beat Phil Davis, but Jones should have previously been featured on a BIG card like Lesnar-Overeem or co-main eventing UFC on FOX 1.
amendamatrix - January 27, 2012
i agree with all you're saying
except the whole part about anderson not being a star.
I think anderson is a star. Ever since UFC 101 where he demolished Forrest Griffin, in my eyes Anderson has been a star, and his PPV sales have proved it. He has sold over 600,000 PPV’s in every event (held in north america) that he has headlined since 101.
Yes, it’s true he gained even more exposure from the Sonnen and Vitor fights, but he was the main attraction, people tuned in to see him. You don’t see Chael or Vitor pulling off the same numbers they did without Anderson. Chael was part of UFC 136 and that PPV even thou it was stacked still sold low numbers. The same with Vitor at 133 and at 142.
After years of Dana promoting Anderson as the best in the world, i think it’s hard to deny that he’s a star. After brocks retirement, he might even be the UFC’s 2nd biggest star.
BTW the reason why i don’t include PPV’s held outside the US and Canada is because they tend to sell abnormally low numbers despite who’s fighting in the card.
I wrote a fanpost about it after UFC 134
http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2011/9/2/2401514/analyzing-ufc-ppv-sales-in-events-held-outside-north-america#storyjump
darkotto23 - January 28, 2012
What kind of license fee does Zuffa get for the Brazilian TV deal?
Machiel Van - January 26, 2012
Depends on the market, for example ESPN UK pays roughly $10,000,000 a year.
MattParker117 - January 26, 2012
Nice info. Source? Just curious. I’ve always wondered about the value of their international TV deals.
Machiel Van - January 26, 2012
I don't have a number
But I have to imagine the Brazilian TV deal is significantly more lucrative, given the much larger market and greater prestige of the networks involved.
Patrick Wyman - January 26, 2012
it's also in a market with a much much lower per capita income
meaning that the advertising sells much cheaper than ads do in the US or UK
Kid Nate - January 26, 2012
Ah true
But isn’t ESPN UK pretty minor league compared to its US counterpart? I had a basic cable package when I lived over there a couple of years ago, and it definitely didn’t come with ESPN. I don’t know if things have changed since then or not, though, so I could be totally wrong.
Patrick Wyman - January 26, 2012
Johnson’s weight issues helped the card! Rehire this man, he’s apparently good for ppv buys.
Hardcharger - January 26, 2012 via mobile
The faster the PPV model can die off, the better. This is my opinion.
Pyrgz Krum - January 26, 2012
ppv will never die off.
bigdmmafan - January 26, 2012
PPV never die?
Pyrgz Krum - January 26, 2012
It could if Zuffa could make more on TV rights fees than PPV. That may never happen though.
Machiel Van - January 26, 2012
I dont think it will
The best we can hope for, imo, is for the amount of PPV’s to go down to about 4-6 per year.
bigdmmafan - January 26, 2012
I think
This is eventually what will happen (say 3-5 years); presumably they’ll end up putting more events on the main Fox network, support it with FX and Fuel, and then do a few mega events on PPV (New Year’s, Memorial Day, 4th of July, etc.). The PPV model is much simpler, and the UFC’s infrastructure hasn’t really caught up to the increased demands and complexity of the network TV deal, but eventually I have to believe that they’ll shift their focus.
Patrick Wyman - January 26, 2012
Dana and the Fertittas still made good money off the show.
Anr - January 26, 2012
Still can’t believe 136 did so poorly. That card was stacked.
BVandDietPepsi - January 26, 2012
Many, many, MANY more casual fans than hardcores. These kind of buyrates show you that people like BE users are just a small minority of overall “MMA fans.”
Machiel Van - January 26, 2012
Even to a casual, it should have done 150k more than 142. I mean, Chael vs. Stann was pushed back to #3 on that show.
BVandDietPepsi - January 26, 2012
Casual fans didn’t know about that fight though. You can’t expect casuals to go out of their way to follow the UFC’s schedule: if they hear about a fight in non-MMA media, they’ll look into it. Otherwise? It’s like it didn’t even happen. Methinks you don’t understand just how “casual” most casual fans can be.
Machiel Van - January 26, 2012
136 might be my favorite card ever.
Tim Bernier - January 26, 2012 via mobile
I hereby admit to being wrong
My psychic prediction was 175k views. I was wrong.
I’d like to take this opportunity to apologize to all my fans.
I’m sorry.
-“Psychic” Octopus
Psychic Octopus - January 26, 2012
That’s awful
Psychic Octopus - February 13, 2012
what?
Psychic Octopus - February 13, 2012
thats actually pretty dam alright for that card and alot better then most all though. Meltzer on his show was almost sure it would not even get close t0 200K
Shocbomb - January 26, 2012
Dam ! one day BE will pop in a edit option,should read most all thought not though
Shocbomb - January 26, 2012
How many people were watching in Brazil?
jhf884 - January 26, 2012
almost a brazillian people.
Pyrgz Krum - January 26, 2012
I don't think Ive come across a joke more deserving of a
Cocytus - January 26, 2012
BROCK SAYS FORGET ME NOT!
RECE ROCK - January 26, 2012
I think UFC should look at putting Aldo’s, Cruz’s, and Edgar’s next title fights on FOX to help get them more exposure. These guys have been putting on pretty good fights, they just need the exposure. Aldo seems to be catching on in Brazil pretty well, so UFC can always count on him to headline a show down there as long as he remains champ.
Overall this isn’t a bad number, all things considered (Aldo not being a household name, a monster NFL game). Some people thought it would do under 200K, so I think UFC will take this for right now.
dpk875 - January 26, 2012
Pretty good number considering it was in Brazil.
At the end of the day it doesn’t matter, because growing stars in Brazil on television is far more important to the UFC than a single PPV.
discoandherpes - January 26, 2012
Way to Many UfC Pay Per Views!
Zuffa and co. need to cut back some on the almost bi-weekly UFC events. Have they ever heard the old adages familiarity breeds contempt, absence makes the ….,too much of a good.etc,etc? Many of the pay-per views are getting watered down.
Hankverdee - January 27, 2012 via mobile
sigtest
Machiel Van - February 1, 2012
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