UFC’s TV Deal With ESPN Has Promising Potential For Fans
UFC’s TV deal with ESPN is promising.
The UFC had an interesting 2018 as it had more downs than ups with declining viewership and all around lack of attention from casual fans. Anytime the UFC puts on an event, you can count on most hardcore fans tuning into the broadcast to watch the fights.
The only problem with so many events that the promotion puts on per year is the decrease of getting the casual fan. You also have to considering the FOX platform. While the events on the main FOX channel were great exposure at first, i continued to go down in the ratings.
Most events aired on FOX Sports 1 which was fine, but problems piled up quickly on the platform as well. The UFC was the majority of the content that the television network aired. Thus, the network needed to use every minute if not longer from the live broadcasts of UFC events. This meant that the pacing of these live events drug on to the point where it was difficult to stay focused on the product.
Pacing
If a fight ended in 2 minutes then it was a guarantee that it would be another 28 minutes until the next fight started. The reason for this is due to the two fights per hour model. The other main problem was the fact that it wasn’t until the end of the deal that the network was in most homes in the United States. That has all changed.
The Deal
The UFC has reached a deal for their TV rights, and it’s a big one as they signed with ESPN. The television network will be airing 30 total UFC shows starting in 2019, which will end the FOX era. Back in May, the promotion announced that they reached a multi-year media rights agreement for exclusive live UFC content with The Walt Disney Company and ESPN that goes into effect in January 2019.
This agreement between the two companies provides for 15 live UFC events to stream exclusively on ESPN+. Each event will be branded “UFC on ESPN+ Fight Night” and will deliver a full card of 12 UFC bouts. The UFC will still have pay-per-view events, as well as the UFC Fight Pass streaming service, even though live fight cards will be shown on ESPN+.
With the majority of events airing on a streaming service, that means no need for commercial breaks. Thus, no commercial breaks and no reasoning for having such a dull in the action so we can hear analysts talk about a decent fight just to fill air time. The UFC also has advantage with ESPN due to the network being sports driven and not divided like FOX with sports and other programming.
Dana White loves appearing and sending his fighters on all ESPN talk shows. Thus, it just furthers added exposure for fighters and the promotion. With this TV deal, the potential of this TV deal befitting the fanbase has the chance to be great.
