http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_10305.shtml Only 250-270k. Suprised at that figure.
PPV buys have been going down for a while now. Probably a combination of Okami's lack of star power and over saturation. And Anderson's buy rates have never been great
Ouch. That's less than the Rashad/Tito and Rampage/Hamill events. Only Lesnar and GSP consistently deliver big UFC buyrates though. For some reason Anderson Silva has never been a major draw, but under 300k is low for him.
They're factored into the buys figure. There's no evidence of any real downturn in like-for-like buys - indeed some shows (Silva vs Belfort and GSP vs Shields for example) probably did better than expected. I think this is going to be more like 2008 - a transitional year where the number of buys dips slightly due to the organisation being in the process of getting over a new set of stars. I think its more likely that they misjudged the market. They went big on the Brazil theme (triple main event with Brazilian legends, Brazil vs the World theme) thinking that it would resonate with American fans due to Brazil's status as the spiritual homeland of the sport. But in fact the same weaknesses that have caused other foreign shows to underperform were still present (lack of MSM coverage, Americans being less interested in shows outside of their country). The FOX deal should hopefully avoid these problems in the future - allowing for shows like Silva vs Okami (or say GSP vs Fitch II) to be used as a showcase for a big star on national television. And the increased in revenue should allow them to bring big shows to places like Brazil for the increased number of FX specials (virtually one a month).
+ hurricane irene would have definitely had an impact sad tho since so many people missed one of the best shows of the year
Im with the Hurricane factor. Last Saturday things where very bad or atleast expected to be very bad through much of the east coast. I simply didnt order the PPV because I thought no way would I get a signal and im sure many other folks felt the same and decided not to order. That and although it was a good, deep card just the name Okami simply isnt a draw had it been Silva vs Sonnen or Belfort agian then the PPVs would be alittle higher.
