DAZN came into boxing and promised to “Change the Game,” When announcing PPV figures for Canelo vs GGG 3, they did just that.
The streaming app set its stall out in 2018 and – at the same time stated, “Pay Per View is dead!”
Four years on, DAZN has wholly altered how all Pay Per View sales get totaled in the future.
Canelo vs GGG 3 PPV sales
In a deliberate act on Wednesday, DAZN executives put out a statement in direct response to “boxing insiders” revealing the United States purchases.
Telling no lies, the Canelo Alvarez undisputed super middleweight championship defense trilogy against Gennadiy Golovkin had sales of around half a million PPVs.
As Canelo dominated GGG to defend his WBA, IBF, WBC, and WBO super middleweight titles at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, plenty of US fans snapped up the fight at $84.99.
WBN can confirm that the ballpark figure is correct. Nothing about that information is wrong.
However, last Saturday, the Las Vegas showdown didn’t sell anywhere near what DAZN needs to make a significant profit.
DAZN PPV
That’s simply the way it is and undeniable. All DAZN could do, was put out their figures and hope fans would forget the fact that they were the sales for every territory in the world.
“DAZN Group has confirmed the Canelo vs. GGG III fight night saw a global audience in the millions. More than 1.06 million buys generated worldwide, including PPV and DAZN subscription,” they stated.
Adding subscriptions into play is also a new way of counting Pay Per View sales. Another game-changer for DAZN.
But as of 2020, DAZN claims to broadcast its events to over 200 of the 241 worldwide nations and territories.
They state: “In 2020, DAZN expanded to more than 200 countries and territories, serving sports fans worldwide with a breadth of live world championship boxing and on-demand original programming.”
Therefore, if you crunch some numbers of your own, you can garner some grasp on reality.
Worldwide subscriptions
If Canelo vs GGG 3 sold 500,000 in the US with the odd 60,000 for good measure, that gives a total of 560,000 buys.
Avid boxing fans in Canada and the UK could probably account for around 200,000 of that total on a good night.
That leaves 300,000 left between the rest of the 199+ territories on the planet. Rounding it up to 200 means the Matchroom Boxing and DAZN PPV sold an average of 1500 Canelo vs GGG 3 PPVs per region on all devices.
If that’s a success, having paid Canelo $45 million and Golovkin $20 million for their troubles, then fair play to DAZN.
They’ve reinvented the Pay Per View wheel, and others like Showtime, FOX PPV, ESPN+ and others should all take other means of live stream viewing their paid events into the equation, including tablet and smart tv options.
Bob Arum did it with the Deontay Wilder vs Tyson Fury II WBC title bout. As some reported sales of 800,000 for the heavyweight rematch in February 2020, Arum told WBN the following information.
PPV figures bumped
“In regards to the Fury vs Wilder (II) Pay-Per-View, they don’t have the digital numbers yet. The digital is well over 300,000 buys,” Arum exclusively told World Boxing News.
“It’s probably sort of accurate [the 850,000 reported]. But then you add in the digital on top of that.
“So three hundred and change [to 850,000]. It’s closer to 1.2 million.”
The Canelo vs GGG trilogy fight at 560,000 or just over is similar to the light-heavyweight battle with Dmitry Bivol in May – if you believe the reports.
However, Floyd Mayweather CEO Leonard Ellerbe claims the fight card did far less when it comes to selling on DAZN PPV.
Ellerbe claimed: “Canelo just did 120k on satellite and cable in the US. I repeat, that has never ever happened. Do you know how bad that is?
“Yeah, it was terrible compared to the big [stuff] he’s done in Vegas in the past, but they slashed ticket prices three times.
“You could get a room at the MGM [Grand] on fight night for $179 on the Mexico holiday weekend. Have you been in Vegas for a Canelo fight for the holiday [you can never get a room]?
“[I’m] not pocket watching, [I’m] just giving some of you dummies the facts as opposed to repeating the dumb [stuff].
“You can’t tell me [anything] about the business of boxing. [I’ve] been doing this at the highest level for many years. Check the resume.
“Canelo just lost, and he did 120k buys combined on cable and satellite in the US. I repeat, 120k combined with a nine million [dollar] live gate.
“That’s a fact,” he concluded.
Future
Whatever way you look at it, DAZN was constantly battling against the odds to try and sell the third fight. Saul Alvarez is still at his peak as GGG heads towards retirement.
Adding Jesse Rodriguez to the co-feature against Israel Gonzalez would have helped sales slightly. But the rest of the card showcasing Austin Williams, Ali Akhmedov vs Gabriel Rosado, and Marc Castro left little to be desired.
More significant fights should have been added to the bill. DAZN had to fully maximize the potential away from the main event to reach well into the million sales.
DAZN banked on the fact that boxing fans always want to watch Canelo regardless of the opponent. Why wouldn’t they think that with Golovkin across the ring after a successful split draw and a majority decision in the previous contests?
However, this is no longer the case in a world where Pay Per View is becoming a plague on boxing. Purchasers are forced to choose which events they fork out cash for each month.
This saturation means undercards need to improve. If they don’t, sales will drop across the board.
WBN Editor Phil Jay has over ten years of boxing news experience. Follow WBN on Facebook @officialworldboxingnews, Instagram, and Twitter @worldboxingnews.
