Recently there has been some talk of how "poorly" the UFC has been doing in terms of buyrates over the past few months. Ever since UFC 100's amazing buyrate of 1.6 to 1.7 PPV buys, the numbers have dipped significantly. Some say this is due to the emergence of Strikeforce, the economy, the lack of title fights, the lack of compelling or meaningful main events, or the injury curse.
After a little research online, i was able to find the estimated buyrates from UFC 33 (their return to PPV after the "dark ages") through UFC 110. For simplicity's sake I used a buyrate of $45.00 and calculated the estimate revenue for each event as EST_REV = EST_BUYS * $45.00.
The numbers for 2010 do not look promising. According to the estimates I found, the average buyrate for a post TUF UFC PPV is 495,833. The average from UFC 33 to UFC 100 is 384,712. Through three events in 2010, they are only averaging 271,667.
If the UFC continues to only sell 275,000 PPV's per event at $45 per buy, this works out to $12,375,000 in revenue per event, or just under $150 million for 12 PPV's in 2010.
While at a glance, it may seem like a cause for concern, I think the UFC is still doing quite well for themselves and will continue to thrive as the undisputed champion of MMA. I can only see the buy numbers increasing once their star fighters have fully recovered and more title fights headline PPV's.
That's the end of my very long winded two cents...thoughts?
Some yearly estimates:
• So far in 2010, they've only had an estimated 815,000 PPV buys for $36,675,000 in estimated revenue.
• In 2009, the UFC had an estimated 7,965,000 total PPV buys for $358,425,000 in estimated revenue.
• In 2008, they had an estimated 6,720,000 PPV buys for $302,400,000 in estimated revenue.
• In 2007, they had an estimated 4,885,000 PPV buys for $219,825,000 in estimated revenue.
• In 2006, they had an estimated 5,545,000 PPV buys for $249,525,000 in estimated revenue.
• In 2005, they had an estimated 950,000 PPV buys for $42,750,000 in estimated revenue.