HBO ratings have dropped 23% from 2016. My look at the numbers.

HBO still puts the highest quality shows in the biz.

 

12 months of data vs <8 months of data?

Try doing this for the last 10+ years. I'm curious...

 

HBO will be out of the boxing business in a few years.

 

Im not sure on that. Matchroom sports put on way better cards with multiple title fights on many occasions. One thing that surprise's me is the lack of atmosphere and no attention to ringwalks like in the UK. It might not seem important but if you spend lots of money on a ticket or PPV and the fight can be over in 10 seconds then I think that extra bit of attention to detail matters and you will see that when Brook comes into the ring next month because his entrance is electric. On another point Al Haymon keeps being linked to itv boxing in the uk, not sure how true it is but in the 90's boxing on itv was huge.

 

I remember last year how everyone was going in about the terrible match making haha

 

Of course their ratings having dropped. Given how terrible the economy and how cable companies ripped you off just by having HBO, a lot of consumers canceled their HBO subscription.

HBO is just a byproduct of copyright. A lot of websites were streaming HBO fights as well as PPVs for $3.95 for one day (high quality streams btw), those sites were taken for copyright infringement. If it wasn't for copyright and the DMCA HBO would be out of business.

Cable television should overall by cheaper, AERO provided really cheap cable television for $15 a month and they were taken down for copyright infringement.

 

Of course their ratings having dropped. Given how terrible the economy and how cable companies ripped you off just by having HBO, a lot of consumers canceled their HBO subscription.

HBO is just a byproduct of copyright. A lot of websites were streaming HBO fights as well as PPVs for $3.95 for one day (high quality streams btw), those sites were taken for copyright infringement. If it wasn't for copyright and the DMCA HBO would be out of business.

Cable television should overall by cheaper, AERO provided really cheap cable television for $15 a month and they were taken down for copyright infringement.

 

Why Arum signed Crawford?Well he have ability but he can't provide good numbers for PPV and can't provide numbers for HBO too.Same goes with Bradley he still can't sell ppv after all 3 fights with Pacquio and other stars.He matched Bradley with Pacquio 3 times and did decent PPV numbers only in the first fight I don't think he knows what public wants to see.He put so much effort in Crawford and Bradley and saw little return because he missed with signing both guys.

 

Come on, is it really just HBO? Every network is looking at a ratings drop. NBC, Showtime & HBO have all seen their ratings drop since the Mayweather / Pacquaio fight.

Many people have lost interest in boxing, leaving the midcore and the hardcore fans supporting these networks.

The entire cable industry is in flux, with Netflix and Amazon Prime video hitting the bottomline of the cable networks like Showtime & HBO. Both networks have apps now, and they've been doing decent business on it, but it's seasonal. Game of Thrones will give HBO another good 2 years, but they need something big after that.

Haymon is about to run out of money soon with the way he's dealing and Showtime hasn't had many big fights on their network recently. HBO probably lost money on GGG/Lemuiex and Crawford/Postol and the return on investment is low.

This is why boxing need big fights and less cowards like Canelo and BJS. This is the era of ducking instead of fighting. If Kovalev/Ward falls out, boxing is going to take another hit.

 

Neither Bradley nor Crawford should be headling a PPV right now anyway, unless there's a big A side (as there was w/ Bradley in Manny Pac).

Both (moreso Crawford) should be making their brand on HBO

 

You're right. People say boxing isn't declining but it is. My generation still remembers boxing because our fathers were into it and we watched it with them on regular television. My kids and their friends don't watch TV. They're on their computers. They know more about MMA than Boxing. Boxing isn't cool with the new generation.

 

Seems a big part of the decline has to do with fewer stars on HBO this year than last.

The biggest ratings on HBO the last 2 years come from Alvarez, Cotto, and Wlad who all fought once on HBO last year and not at all this year.

Kovalev had been doing over 1 million viewers consistently until he fought on a Monday in Russia this year for less than 400,000 viewers which is going to skew the numbers some.

Golovkin does good numbers and will fight atleast once more on HBO this year. If the Wlad-Fury rematch happens this year and/or Alvarez fights on HBO in December than the numbers will increase for this year.

HBO is on track to do fewer cards this year which isn't good but once the numbers are in for the whole year and some of the bigger names fight on HBO again then the decline won't be as bad but there will still be a decline this year.

 

isn't alvarez-smith going to be a ppv fight?

there you go. that's what's wrong with hbo

 

HBO Boxing is in trouble. Boxing is in a rebuilding mode right now, that means it needs investment. Starving their boxing right when they need to build it back up just means they are going to continue to tank until they don't want to spend any money on it. This is something Showtime understands better. If HBO believed in boxing they'd invest in it.

 

Mayweather and Arum both hurt boxing more than any other two individuals in the sport.