I was thinking about this, while HBO has a solid stable for the future due to the number of solid prospects Top Rank currently has, and other guys like Golovkin, does HBO really have anyone you can see carrying PPV cards like they've had in the past with Floyd, Pac, Cotto?
They don't need ppv to be relevant, they just need to keep putting on good cards. Some of the best most watched boxers didn't do ppv on a regular like mayweather, pacquiao. As of right now golden boy is putting on better matches then top rank, but that could shift and hbo has more subcribers then showtime which means better ratings #.
true, and if that is a strategy they want to take, they have the guys to do so - proven veteran boxers like garcia, golovkin, middleweight guys, ward, bradley, prod, rios, alvarado, donaire, kovalev, estrada and guys who they hope will pan out like Loma, verdejo, murata, the US olympian they signed.
I reckon HBO should push Ward as their main man, he will take over as P4P number 1 when Floyd retires. Some might laugh and say he is boring but some people find Floyds style boring not me but some do I reckon Ward will be their top guy. Ward v Chavez could possibly be PPV material
Ward seems like he's the guy they're gonna try and build around, GGG for sure if he keeps winning, and Mikey Garcia has an outside shot, too... Canelo someday, too, as I can't see HBO shutting Golden Boy out forever...
HBO doesn't give a **** about ratings as that's something advertisers look at and they rely on subscribers rather than advertisers to make their money... And the vast majority of their subscribers don't pay for HBO for their boxing... They pay for the movies and shows.
Yes, it is Showtime, but I was actually talking about all PPV in a generic term. HBO and Showtime both have PPV. The channel I will order the fight from is Showtime boxing PPV. Showtime has been coming along lately, I am used to HBO being the big dog, but Showtime appears to be getting the best of HBO lately. I ordered the Golovkin/Ishida fight for only $25 from a channel I have forgotten...............
I agree with this but I'm still not sure if he's ready to be a PPV star...yet. The only PPV worthy fight available to him now would be Chavez Jr. Ward/Golovkin and Ward/Kovalev will be PPV worthy in a year or so but they'll all need to continue winning meaningful fights if they want the casual fan to fork over $60.00 to watch them.
:dead At the end of the day hbo does care about ratings. If boxing didn't generate decent ratings they would scale back its boxing programming and not spend money on it. Yes boxing my be a small part of its program vs its subscribers. They are in the business of gaining and keeping subcribers. You do this by having stuff people want to watch, boxing is part of that. Its funny how whenever they have a free hbo weekend it usually coincides with a boxing event, hbo and showtime use boxing to gain subscribers just as much as their shows. You really can't get the major boxing events unless you have showtime or hbo in the states. So boxing may be not as big as say football but imagine if you couldn't watch the game unless you had hbo, they would make a killing. Its almost the same effect but scaled back because boxing is smaller. I know I never watch movies on sho or hbo, I subscribe because of boxing. Take boxing away and I'd drop my subscription, I have Netflix for shows n movies.
That is crazy talk. PPV does two important things 1 makes a profit off of boxing(no profit on regular event just subscribers they already have) 2 PPV events like the one on sept14th get viewers that normally are not watching Boxing and/or their network(PPV= new subscribers) atsch
I think what he is saying is there's been plenty of HBO stars in the past who have not had the PPV treatment, Roy Jones jnr being prime example, for most of his career he wasn't on PPV, yet he was still one of the big names on HBO and a huge name in boxing. If HBO just concentrate on putting good cards on then the fighters get known and in time the public will get to know that fighter and then with the right fights you can put them on PPV. There's definitely going to be a transitional period on HBO when this current crop of stars start retiring, HBO can play it cool and build their fighters up and showcase them on HBO and then the PPV will come like they always do, but if HBO start expecting the fans to start paying PPV straight away just to keep the money coming in then they are going to run into problems like people not willing to pay for the PPV which means less and less people get to actual see the fighters.