WEC 47 takes big hit on ratings, down 42%
The results are in for WEC 47, and it’s not looking good.
The latest event from WEC, which took place on March 6, saw it’s rating suffer a 42% decline from the promotion’s previous effort.
WEC 47 drew a total of 373,000 viewers compared to the 640,000 brought in from the prior event, WEC 46, according to MMAJunkie.com.
WEC 47 was the second lowest rated event in the last year and a half of the promotion’s history
The timing couldn’t be worse for the WEC, which will put on it’s very first pay-per-view card in it’s next outing, WEC 48, which will be available for $49.99.
Cory Brady is the managing editor of FiveOuncesOfPain.com, along with being a regular feature writer with Ultimate MMA Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/corybrady
| All posts by Cory Brady
I wonder how much of the hit was because Direct TV no longer offers Versus. I would have like to watched it but my provider denied me the ability.
Thumbs down me all you want but there’s no Fucking way I’m paying to watch WEC and I don’t personally know anyone who doesn’t laugh at the idea of a PPV. I love to watch them on VS but $50 to watch minor league fighting is just absurd!
One big reason is that WEC is on Versus which is not on Direct TV.
$50? Epic fail.
If you’re not doing 400K of viewers when it’s free, maybe overcharging for your 1st ppv isn’t the way to get those numbers up.
When the WEC 48 PPV bombs, will the WEC go the way of BoDog Fights, HDNet Fights, Affliction and Elite XC? Or is a co-promotion with M-1 global the prerequisite for folding up shop?
I hate seeing these promotions fail, but at times I have to wonder are they really planning to be ‘in it’ for the long haul?
They’d have a hard time getting $20 out of me for a WEC PPV, let alone $50. I think the only way they could possibly be successful in PPV is if they absorbed the UFC’s LW division and got rid of the WWs.
I’ve said it before: F**K YOU DIRECTV!!!!!!!!!
If I miss this first UFC on Versus, which looks very likely, I will go to Directv’s corporate headquarters and kick the CEO in the nugget pouch like I’m kicking a field goal in the Super Bowl.
I’m hoping with this bomb and with the UFC coming to Versus, that Direct TV will wise up. And I agree with the PPV $50 is crazy. They should start at half of that if they want a real chance of PPV success.
I don’t mind paying a little for a WEC, I’ve been open to that all along. But every day that goes by makes it harder and harder for me to shell out $50 for anything, much less something I’m used to getting for free. If they’re smart they’ll do as several other people here have suggested and start out at a lower price. The UFC didn’t start their cards at $50, why in the world would they think starting the WEC at that price would be a good idea?
I’m kinda surprised about the ratings drop to be honest. It’s not the first card since DirectTV dropped Versus, so we can’t blame it all on that. It definitely affected the numbers, but it’s not the only reason.
As a DirectTV customer, I felt cheated by the whole Versus issue. DirectTV’s version of the story is that Comcast, which owns Versus., was demanding too much for the next contract. I don’t know if that’s true. If it is, and if the drop in ratings is because of the lost DirectTV viewers, then WEC is getting screwed, too. Regardless, a $50.00 ppv seems like a bad idea, and a flop might harm the org. I’d really hate to see that.
Directv claims that Comcast, which owns Versus, wants to charge them too much to air Versus. Directv charges me $90+ a month for two DVR’s and they raised my bill even though I have a 2 year agreement with them. WTF are they complaining about? The same sh*t they do to me?
I gotta be honest… although I would rather watch a rerun of an old fight than a new episode of Hero’s… I really have no interest in paying for the WEC. Granted, thier first PPV card has all the fights that I am interested in, the question remains: what would happen next? When your PPV debut features all of your marque fighters squared off against one another, you can only go down from there. Frankly, I would rather see the WEC banner done away with. Absorb it into the ufc, and suddenly you’ve created a(n even) deeper lightweight division, as well as adding in two more very exciting weight classes (that could be built upon), presenting the option of a title fight every UFC event.
When Direct TV stopped carrying VS bcuz Comcast was too greedy and wanted big ca$h for it , I can’t
f ‘ing believe that ZUFFA didn’t see this coming. Do they think that their UFC ratings on VS are gonna be as good as they are on SPIKE TV? I guarantee a significant ratings drop. Comcast and VS need
to get their sh_t together and patch things up with Direct TV or they’re gonna lose the WEC and the UFC on their channel.
I agree that the WEC PPV should be no more than $25 bux and that’s asking alot…
they should have put a couple of good WEC fights on a UFC PPV card first to introduce the audience and maybe even draw some new viewers then try there first PPV a month or 2 down the road…
I think the UFC on VS will do wonders for both the VS channel and for WEC #’s…
You guys pay 50$ for the fights ha, thats standard def lol. I pay 10$ and that includes beer and High Def. Friends ya’ll.