These initial Kovalev Ward PPV numbers reported are probably around what some expected going into the event to be honest. Maybe a little lower.
Despite the compelling nature of Sergey Kovalev vs Andre Ward been a genuinely excellent matchup between two of the sport’s best pound for pound fighters today, it didn’t anywhere near capture the public’s imagination in America outside of the usual hardcore boxing fanbase.
Kevin Iole has reported the following on the initial Kovalev Ward PPV numbers that he has got wind of:
Hearing that the Kovalev-Ward PPV numbers are going to come in in the low 160s.
— Kevin Iole (@KevinI) November 28, 2016
160,00 pay per view buys on HBO is low. If accurate. But the event in all honesty wasn’t exactly promoted and shouted about from the roof tops was it?
Add to this the humble nature of both guys involved who are not exactly Conor McGregor or Floyd Mayweather type characters who sell a fight through trash talk.
It was never going to be a major pay per view success but to the event’s credit in terms of it’s promotion, HBO did bring out some very high quality documentary type features about both fighters.
But what does this say about today’s current market? Are people really interested in these in-depth type documentaries as much as they once were?
In today’s incredibly competitive sports market fans have many choices to choose from on a weekend when it comes to parting with their hard earned dollars.
It seems not just boxing, but sports in general, continue to become a crowded market place where an event needs to be really sold to the tenth degree to get it noticed and ultimately bought by the consumer.
Of course the continuing growing trend of online streaming continues to effect the pay per view business across all sports too, which must also be factored into the above numbers.
One thing I noticed before the event was the lack of RocNation signed stars talking about the fight.
With recording artists under their banner that boast a combined millions upon millions of social media followers, would it have been too much to ask for some of them to talk about the fight in the build-up?
Just a thought.
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