Tito Ortiz vs. Alberto Del Rio fight was viewership success in Mexico, but US PPV ‘didn’t fare as well’
Last weekend, Combate Americas promoted its first pay-per-view event. The event was topped by a 210-pound catchweight fight between former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz and pro wrestling veteran Alberto Del Rio.
On Friday morning, the promotion sent out a press release outlining how this card faired in terms of viewership.
The release boasted that the Ortiz vs. Del Rio card was viewed by a whopping 3.1 million people in Mexico, where it aired for free on Televisa Canal 5. Unfortunately, it “didn’t fare as well” on pay-per-view in the United States.
Here are the details:
Combate Americas today announced that the ‘Tito vs. Alberto – What Side Are You On?’ Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) extravaganza garnered 3.1 million live Televisa Canal 5 viewers in Mexico from Payne Arena in McAllen, Texas last Saturday, Dec. 7.
The audience size for the live program was nearly double the average of 1.6 million for all previous Combate Americas live programming on Televisa Canal 5.
The live pay-per-view television broadcast in the U.S. did not fare as well, according to initial reports that indicate a low buy rate for the company’s only pay-per-view offering to date.
In the same press release, Combate Americas CEO Campbell McLaren shared a positive review of the Ortiz vs. Del Rio card, despite low pay-per-view numbers in the United States.
“We pulled off the biggest event in the company’s history, and it showed across a number of platforms, including the size of our live broadcast television audience in Mexico, the crowd of nearly 7,000 fans in the arena, the number of online pay-per-view buys from consumers in Latin America and the heavy activity on social media from an assortment of public figures that either tuned in or were paying attention, including U.S. President Donald Trump,” said McLaren.
“The television pay-per-view environment in the U.S. has changed dramatically, though, in just the last few years, as I know well from producing the original UFC’s,” continued McLaren, “but we delivered the show we promised, and Combate Americas will continue to grow across the media platforms and venues that thrive and demand our programming.”
Did you watch last weekend’s Tito Ortiz vs. Alberto Del Rio fight? What do you think the future holds for Combate Americas after this event?
This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 12/13/2019.
