24/7 Isn't Always Effective

by Michael Rome on Dec 4, 2008 9:28 AM EST in News Comment 10 comments

Like many others, I've been vocal about how the UFC needs to step up its fight promotion game given HBO's 24/7 series. The difference was especially striking to me following the Mayweather/De la Hoya series and then the Mayweather/Hatton series. As it turns out, the key to these shows was Mayweather, not the multi-part feature.

I watched the build to Jones and Calzaghe on HBO, and the epic narraration and music just felt forced. The classic narrative from the first Mayweather series of this big mouthed kid against the legend that would shut him up just wasn't there. The show ended up doing 225,000 buys, or so I thought, Ron Borges over at The Sweet Science says it did under 200,000.

I feel the same way watching the current series with Oscar and Manny. The Manny stuff is fascinating, the Oscar stuff is boring, and they have very little material to work with when it comes to building a narrative for the fight. I knew they were forcing it when the narrarator described Freddie Roach's car and Manny's dog in his normal epic tone. Obviously this card is going to do big numbers, but I think it's more because Oscar is a gigantic star and Manny has his own drawing base, not because of anything the show has done.

I've heard so many reasons why there was no 3 part series for Lesnar/Couture that it makes my head spin, but Dave Meltzer says they had a ton of material, enough for 3 different shows, suggesting they could have done a three part series, but chose not to. Perhaps the narrative just wasn't there to carry it. Brock Lesnar was not his normal trash talking self leading into this fight, both men were humble and complimentary towards the other, and the actual countdown special they did was honestly nothing special at all. If that was their best stuff, I do not think a 3 part series would have helped anything.

They are going to do their first series of the kind in January for Penn and St. Pierre, and it will be very interesting to see how they push that fight. Penn knows how to hype fights though, and he understands how important it is, so I expect him to try to ham it up for the cameras. They're rumored to be working with excellent people on it, and they're spending a lot to do it right. There's no guarantee it will do much to help either, three parts is not enough on its own.

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They should have done a 3 part series with Rampage and Silva this month. With their history, this fight over any other future fights including Penn/Pierre would probably bring in more viewers.

by steveoc24 on Dec 4, 2008 4:05 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

But if Rampage still comes across as fragile and rambling like he has of late, then thats not good tv.

by Benicio on Dec 4, 2008 6:52 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

BJ loves to hype himself up in front of the camera and GSP is personable and good looking enough to carry an episode or two. Given the right people putting this together, I can see it working really well.

Unlike Randy and Brock, these two are at the top of the food chain and in the prime of their lives.

by Benicio on Dec 4, 2008 6:55 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Mayweather/Hatton and ODLH were fights people had ached to see. Calzaghe/Jones was a fight that was 8 years late. That kinda figures in.

by D.Capitated on Dec 4, 2008 7:05 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

I think that’s a big part of it. I feel like most casual observers don’t really know who Calzaghe is and believe that Roy Jones Jr. has been done as a legitimate contender for several years.

Still, Roy Jones Jr. has significantly more name value than do St. Pierre and Penn combined. It’s true, the 24/7 concept isn’t a magic bullet that guarantees over one million buys. But if there’s a story to tell between relevant athletes in their prime, it’s thus far been proven to be a good way to handle that promotion.

by Brett Jones on Dec 4, 2008 7:54 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Precisely. Its a great tool for motivating the base of people who are interested in potentially ordering it to press the buttons on their remote and really do so. However, if people actively do not want to see it, they aren’t going to care how well you edit the show. The UFC knows that now; just look at how many people watched the UFC 90 special and then how many actually bought the show.

by D.Capitated on Dec 4, 2008 8:09 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Sure, the 24/7 model doesn’t automatically yield mass PPV buys, but I think this is the perfect fight for Zuffa to try the format. It’s one of the key advantages of superfights, especially between current champions – and in this case, ones that have fought a ‘controversial’ decision already (although there’s simply no way to score that fight for BJ, in my eyes). The amount of stuff to highlight and interview about, complete with amazing highlights, is just staggering. I can’t wait to see it.

by subo on Dec 4, 2008 8:42 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

"The Manny stuff is fascinating"

Yes, I just can’t get enough of Manny Karaoke! O_O

Seriously though, I think both sides are boring, but I still watch.

by xFenixKnightx on Dec 4, 2008 8:55 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

it may not guarantee anything, but it sure cant hurt.

by bdw on Dec 4, 2008 8:00 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Without an enthralling narrative angle to produce this show from its just a waste.

They’ve got a full fight’s worth of footage and access to the greatest combat analysts, strategists and practitioners in the world.

They have them break every second of the fight down including psychological consequences of the little milestones within the fight. Then you contrast and compare with their performances since. Wrap it up with breakdowns of each fighter from the opposing camp instead of the tired shit-storm of self-aggrandizing the UFC normally offers and you’ve got a shot of drawing some people in with this thing.

by asa on Dec 5, 2008 8:41 AM EST reply actions 0 recs