Outside Source
According to UFC CEO Dana White, UFC 324 exceeded expectations in terms of viewers. The card was the first as part of the promotion’s seven year, $7.7 billion media rights deal with Paramount. More significantly, it marked the end of the pay-per-view model for numbered events.
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“We’ll have numbers. I talked to Ari [Emanuel],” White said at the UFC 324 post-fight press conference. . “Ari just said we’ll have numbers on Tuesday or Wednesday. This exceeded expectations beyond belief for Paramount. We know it killed it. We just don’t know the exact number yet. They’re saying it exceeded by like double.”
The partnership between the UFC and Paramount is clearly still in the honeymoon phase, and White has been impressed with the network’s overall approach.
“It’s unexplainable how enthusiastic and incredible these guys have been leading up to the first fight,” White said. “We’ve got a real good feeling this is going to be a great relationship for the next seven years.”
However, there were some complaints regarding the initial UFC broadcast on Paramount+, and they centered primarily on the number of ads that ran during the card. These interfered with a number of fighter walkouts and access to corner advice between rounds that would normally have aired during the old pay-per-view format.
A Work in Progress
White reminded those criticizing the broadcast that concessions have to be made for having premium UFC events on a streaming service at a relatively low subscription fee.
“I haven’t seen it yet and all of this is a work in progress,” White said. “It’s $8.99. You’re not paying f—-ing, however much more, these guys have got to make some money too.”
With that being said, it’s possible — and likely — that adjustments will be made as the partnership progresses. The next opportunity will came with UFC 325 on Saturday, when the Octagon heads to Sydney for a card headlined by a featherweight title rematch between Alexander Volkanovski and Diego Lopes.
“Well, that is a fact [that Paramount paid for the UFC rights], let’s start there,” White said. “But these guys are incredible to work with already, so we’ll figure it out.”
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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