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Pay Per View Buyrate
The Ultimate Fighting Championship is, quite simply, the most succesful organization in the history of Pay Per View television. In 2006, the UFC set the all-time record for the largest annual gross revenue in the history of the medium, generating over $222 million for the year, and eclipsing the totals of its nearest Pay Per View rivals, boxing (via HBO Sports) and professional wrestling (via Vince McMahon's WWE). In 2007, HBO briefly retook that mantle, owing in large part to the Oscar de la Hoya versus Floyd Mayweather superfight, which helped it set a new annual record of $255 million in revenue. Since then the record books have been all UFC. The Zuffa, LLC owned promotion has left its Pay Per View rivals in the dust, shattering records on an annual basis with $283 million in Pay Per View gross revenue in 2008, and an estimated $350 million in 2009. These records were set during the worst recession in modern U.S. history, suggesting that but for the state of the economy, the totals would have been much higher.
The UFC's annual revenue increases are driven, of course, by the increases in Pay Per View buyrates for UFC events. From a total of 145,000 total annual Pay Per View buys in 2001, UFC PPV sales grew to over 5.1 million in 2007 and approximately 8 million in 2009. Of the top ten Pay Per View events in 2009 as measured by total purchases, the UFC had six, boxing three, and professional wrestling one.
Held on December 30, 2006, UFC 66: Liddell vs. Ortiz 2 was the Ultimate Fighting Championship's first ever Pay Per View event to reach the 1,000,000 buy plateau. The economics of that event are representative of the extraordinarily lucrative market Pay Per View sales represent. The live event itself was attended by 13,700 fans, of whom approximately 12,000 were paid entrants, generating a live gate total of $5,397,000. The 1,050,000 fans who ordered UFC 66 on Pay Per View, by contrast, would have brought in over $45 million in gross sales at the current standard Pay Per View purchase price of $44.95. In short, despite the ever-increasing television audiences, live gates, merchandising and licensing sales enjoyed by the UFC juggernaut, the organization's cash cow has been and remains Pay Per View.
While the UFC's Pay Per View success has been unprecedented, it has not been shared by the remainder of the MMA community. Strikeforce and EliteXC's co-promoted 2007 Shamrock vs. Baroni foray into the Pay Per View market met with a paltry 35,000 buys, and the first (and last) ever Pay Per View event held under Zuffa's WEC banner, WEC 48: Aldo vs. Faber in April of 2010, has been estimated variously at between 60,000 and 150,000 buys, depending on the source. Affliction 1 and Affliction 2 met with approximately 100,000 and 90,000 buys, respectively, before the promotion was folded.
Pay Per View Buyrate (125)
| Event | Name | Date | Buyrate | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UFC 100 | 2009.07.11 | 1,600,000 | ||||
| UFC 116 | Lesnar vs Carwin | 2010.07.03 | 1,160,000 | |||
| UFC 121 | Lesnar vs. Velasquez | 2010.10.23 | 1,050,000 | |||
| UFC 114 | Jackson vs Evans | 2010.05.29 | 1,050,000 | |||
| UFC 66 | Liddell vs. Ortiz 2 | 2006.12.30 | 1,050,000 | |||
| UFC 92 | The Ultimate 2008 | 2008.12.27 | 1,050,000 | |||
| UFC 148 | Silva vs. Sonnen 2 | 2012.07.07 | 1,000,000 | |||
| UFC 94 | St-Pierre vs. Penn 2 | 2009.01.31 | 920,000 | |||
| UFC 91 | Couture vs Lesnar | 2008.11.15 | 900,000 | |||
| UFC 158 | St. Pierre vs. Diaz | 2013.03.16 | 900,000 | |||
| UFC 101 | Declaration | 2009.08.08 | 850,000 | |||
| UFC 129 | St. Pierre vs. Shields | 2011.04.30 | 800,000 | |||
| UFC 124 | St. Pierre vs. Koscheck 2 | 2010.12.11 | 785,000 | |||
| UFC 61 | Bitter Rivals | 2006.07.08 | 775,000 | |||
| UFC 111 | St-Pierre vs Hardy | 2010.03.27 | 770,000 | |||
| UFC 141 | Lesnar vs. Overeem | 2011.12.30 | 750,000 | |||
| UFC 126 | Silva vs. Belfort | 2011.02.05 | 725,000 | |||
| UFC 154 | St. Pierre vs. Condit | 2012.11.17 | 700,000 | |||
| UFC 79 | Nemesis | 2007.12.29 | 700,000 | |||
| UFC 145 | Jones vs. Evans | 2012.04.21 | 700,000 | |||
| UFC 71 | Liddell vs Jackson | 2007.05.26 | 675,000 | |||
| UFC 81 | Breaking Point | 2008.02.02 | 650,000 | |||
| UFC 97 | Redemption | 2009.04.18 | 650,000 | |||
| UFC 98 | Evans vs. Machida | 2009.05.23 | 635,000 | |||
| UFC 87 | Seek and Destroy | 2008.08.09 | 625,000 | |||
| UFC 107 | Penn vs. Sanchez | 2009.12.12 | 620,000 | |||
| UFC 60 | Hughes vs Gracie | 2006.05.27 | 620,000 | |||
| UFC 117 | Silva vs Sonnen | 2010.08.07 | 600,000 | |||
| UFC 155 | Dos Santos vs. Velasquez 2 | 2012.12.29 | 590,000 | |||
| UFC 146 | Dos Santos vs. Mir | 2012.05.26 | 560,000 | |||
| UFC 68 | Uprising | 2007.03.03 | 540,000 | |||
| UFC 86 | Jackson vs. Griffin | 2008.07.05 | 540,000 | |||
| UFC 159 | Jones vs. Sonnen | 2013.04.27 | 535,000 | |||
| UFC 118 | Edgar vs. Penn 2 | 2010.08.28 | 535,000 | |||
| UFC 83 | Serra vs. St. Pierre 2 | 2008.04.19 | 530,000 | |||
| UFC 113 | Machida vs Shogun 2 | 2010.05.08 | 520,000 | |||
| UFC 115 | Liddell vs Franklin | 2010.06.12 | 520,000 | |||
| UFC 135 | Jones vs. Rampage | 2011.09.24 | 520,000 | |||
| UFC 62 | Liddell vs Sobral | 2006.08.26 | 500,000 | |||
| UFC 65 | Bad Intentions | 2006.11.18 | 500,000 | |||
| UFC 123 | Rampage vs. Machida | 2010.11.20 | 500,000 | |||
| UFC 112 | Invincible | 2010.04.10 | 500,000 | |||
| UFC 104 | Machida vs Shogun | 2009.10.24 | 500,000 | |||
| UFC 74 | Respect | 2007.08.25 | 485,000 | |||
| UFC 140 | Jones vs. Machida | 2011.12.10 | 485,000 | |||
| UFC 88 | Breakthrough | 2008.09.06 | 480,000 | |||
| UFC 84 | Ill Will | 2008.05.24 | 475,000 | |||
| UFC 76 | Knockout | 2007.09.22 | 475,000 | |||
| UFC 152 | Jones vs. Belfort | 2012.09.22 | 450,000 | |||
| UFC 128 | Shogun vs Jones | 2011.03.19 | 445,000 | |||
| UFC 102 | Couture vs. Nogueira | 2009.08.29 | 435,000 | |||
| UFC 157 | Rousey vs. Carmouche | 2013.02.23 | 425,000 | |||
| UFC 73 | Stacked | 2007.07.07 | 425,000 | |||
| UFC 59 | Reality Check | 2006.04.15 | 425,000 | |||
| UFC 67 | All or Nothing | 2007.02.03 | 400,000 | |||
| UFC 78 | Validation | 2007.11.17 | 400,000 | |||
| UFC 143 | Diaz vs. Condit | 2012.02.04 | 400,000 | |||
| UFC 57 | Liddell vs. Couture 3 | 2006.02.04 | 400,000 | |||
| UFC 69 | Shootout | 2007.04.07 | 400,000 | |||
| UFC 63 | Hughes vs Penn | 2006.09.23 | 400,000 | |||
| UFC 106 | Ortiz vs Griffin 2 | 2009.11.21 | 375,000 | |||
| UFC 103 | Franklin vs. Belfort | 2009.09.19 | 375,000 | |||
| UFC 144 | Edgar vs. Henderson | 2012.02.25 | 375,000 | |||
| UFC 153 | Silva vs. Bonnar | 2012.10.13 | 375,000 | |||
| UFC 99 | The Comeback | 2009.06.13 | 365,000 | |||
| UFC 132 | Cruz vs Faber II | 2011.07.02 | 350,000 | |||
| UFC 96 | Jackson vs. Jardine | 2009.03.07 | 350,000 | |||
| UFC 93 | Franklin vs. Henderson | 2009.01.17 | 350,000 | |||
| UFC 134 | Silva vs. Okami | 2011.08.27 | 335,000 | |||
| UFC 82 | Pride of a Champion | 2008.03.01 | 325,000 | |||
| UFC 130 | Rampage vs Hamill | 2011.05.28 | 325,000 | |||
| UFC 131 | Carwin vs. Dos Santos | 2011.06.11 | 325,000 | |||
| UFC 77 | Hostile Territory | 2007.10.20 | 325,000 | |||
| UFC 156 | Aldo vs. Edgar | 2013.02.02 | 325,000 | |||
| UFC 133 | Evans vs. Ortiz 2 | 2011.08.06 | 310,000 | |||
| UFC 58 | USA vs Canada | 2006.03.04 | 300,000 | |||
| UFC 90 | Silva vs Cote | 2008.10.25 | 300,000 | |||
| UFC 2 | No Way Out | 1994.03.11 | 300,000 | |||
| UFC 64 | Unstoppable | 2006.10.14 | 300,000 | |||
| UFC 119 | Mir vs Cro Cop | 2010.09.25 | 295,000 | |||
| UFC 139 | Shogun vs. Henderson | 2011.11.19 | 290,000 | |||
| UFC 109 | Relentless | 2010.02.06 | 285,000 | |||
| UFC 137 | Penn vs. Diaz | 2011.10.29 | 280,000 | |||
| UFC 52 | Couture vs. Liddell 2 | 2005.04.16 | 280,000 | |||
| UFC 108 | Evans vs Silva | 2010.01.02 | 275,000 | |||
| UFC 125 | Resolution | 2011.01.01 | 270,000 | |||
| UFC 5 | Return of the Beast | 1995.04.07 | 260,000 | |||
| UFC 127 | Penn vs Fitch | 2011.02.26 | 260,000 | |||
| UFC 6 | Clash of the Titans | 1995.07.14 | 240,000 | |||
| UFC 149 | Faber vs. Barao | 2012.07.21 | 235,000 | |||
| UFC 142 | Aldo vs. Mendes | 2012.01.14 | 235,000 | |||
| UFC 136 | Edgar vs Maynard 3 | 2011.10.08 | 225,000 | |||
| UFC 80 | Rapid Fire | 2008.01.19 | 225,000 | |||
| UFC 110 | Nogueira vs. Velasquez | 2010.02.20 | 215,000 | |||
| UFC 85 | Bedlam | 2008.06.07 | 215,000 | |||
| UFC 72 | Victory | 2007.06.16 | 200,000 | |||
| UFC 56 | Full Force | 2005.11.19 | 200,000 | |||
| UFC 7 | The Brawl in Buffalo | 1995.09.08 | 190,000 | |||
| UFC 150 | Henderson vs. Edgar 2 | 2012.08.11 | 190,000 | |||
| UFC 147 | Silva vs. Franklin 2 | 2012.06.23 | 175,000 | |||
| UFC 8 | David vs Goliath | 1996.02.16 | 160,000 | |||
| UFC 40 | Vendetta | 2002.11.22 | 150,000 | |||
| UFC 54 | Boiling Point | 2005.08.20 | 150,000 | |||
| UFC 55 | Fury | 2005.10.07 | 125,000 | |||
| UFC 48 | Payback | 2004.06.19 | 110,000 | |||
| UFC 47 | It's On! | 2004.04.02 | 105,000 | |||
| UFC 51 | Super Saturday | 2005.02.05 | 105,000 | |||
| Affliction 1 | Banned | 2008.07.19 | 100,000 | |||
| UFC 44 | Undisputed | 2003.09.26 | 94,000 | |||
| UFC 53 | Heavy Hitters | 2005.06.04 | 90,000 | |||
| Affliction 2 | Day of Reckoning | 2009.01.24 | 90,000 | |||
| UFC 1 | The Beginning | 1993.11.12 | 86,000 | |||
| UFC 46 | Supernatural | 2004.01.31 | 80,000 | |||
| UFC 49 | Unfinished Business | 2004.08.21 | 80,000 | |||
| UFC 33 | Victory in Vegas | 2001.09.28 | 75,000 | |||
| UFC 34 | High Voltage | 2001.11.02 | 65,000 | |||
| UFC 36 | Worlds Collide | 2002.03.22 | 55,000 | |||
| UFC 37 | High Impact | 2002.05.10 | 50,000 | |||
| UFC 43 | Meltdown | 2003.06.06 | 49,000 | |||
| UFC 39 | The Warriors Return | 2002.09.27 | 45,000 | |||
| Dynamite!! USA | 2007.06.02 | 35,000 | ||||
| Strikeforce | Shamrock vs. Baroni | 2007.06.22 | 35,000 | |||
| UFC 42 | Sudden Impact | 2003.04.25 | 35,000 | |||
| UFC 35 | Throwdown | 2002.01.11 | 35,000 | |||
| Pride 32 | The Real Deal | 2006.10.21 | 30,000 |
