"On paper, Paramount+'s debut UFC broadcast Saturday night was meant to usher in an exciting new era for combat sports. As the initial public offering under a seven-year, $7.7 billion deal that nepo mogul David Ellison hammered out in August for streaming rights to the fights promotion, UFC 324 was "free" (with a paid Paramount+ subscription) - a sharp turn away from the $80 pay-per-view fees charged by its previous broadcast home, ESPN."
"But the absence of a PPV price tag couldn't quiet the roar of online discontent for what fight fans decried as a wild oversaturation of advertising content around and even during the fights. Even while "new era" UFC 324 reached a robust 5 million streaming views and over 7 million households in the U.S. and Latin America (Par+'s biggest-ever audience for a live event, according to Paramount+), backlash to the ad-supported revenue structure was vocal, strident, and immediate:"
"Instead of traditionally showcasing the combatants walking from their dressing rooms and into the ring, fight fans got commercials. You wanted to hear what the cornermen were instructing their fighters in between rounds? Too bad, you got an ad for TurboTax that took up 85 percent of the screen and overrode all audio. Even longtime UFC octagon announcer Bruce Buffer shoehorned a brief plug telling viewers to go see Scream 7 ahead of his signature prefight exhortation, "Iiiiiiittttttt's time!""
Paramount+ debuted its UFC broadcast with UFC 324 under a seven-year, $7.7 billion streaming-rights deal, offering the event free with a subscription rather than a pay-per-view charge. The event drew about 5 million streaming views and reached over 7 million households across the U.S. and Latin America, the largest Paramount+ live-event audience to date. Many viewers complained about heavy advertising intrusions that replaced fighter entrances, commentary, and between-round coaching audio. Ads sometimes overrode audio and dominated the screen, and even the octagon announcer promoted a film during the broadcast. Fan backlash to the ad-supported model was immediate and vocal.
Read at Vulture
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