THE PRICe OF PPV

On the 30th of October 1974 Mohammed Ali and George Forman were finally ready to get it on.

The Rumble in the Jungle was the most anticipated fight of all time


They didn’t get into the ring until 4:30 am local time in Zaire

About 10:30pm in America

In 1974 fights weren’t shown on cable TV 


They were shown on closed circuit television

Otherwise known as theatre TV

Cinemas and other venues would buy the feed

And sell tickets for people to come and watch live

So no matter your home set up, you could watch the fight

The fight was also sold to free TV stations outside of the US

The Rumble in the Jungle is one of the greatest fights of all time

Ali upsetting the odds and winning in the 8th round

It was also the biggest tv event of all time

Watched by a billion people around the world

That’s one in four people alive

The appeal of boxing was never greater than on the night of the Rumble

It was also the peak of the CCTV era of selling fights

50 million Americans paid to see that fight in theatres around the country

Seven years later the theatre TV era ended and the pay per view era began

This is the boxing era we’re still in now


Promoters and TV companies sell fights directly to fans through their TV subscriptions

Sounds smart, going direct to the fans

But it leaves a huge amount of people unable to buy the fights 


Without the right subscriptions, technology or enough money

With the switch from the theatre TV era to the PPV era

Boxing moved from a growth strategy to a loyalty strategy

Hiding their best talent behind paywalls and restricting access to existing fans

Prioritising squeezing more from die-hards

Over bringing in new comers

The biggest pay per view fight of all time was Mayweather against Paquiao in 2015

They sold 5m pay per views

And they are two of most famous boxers of all time

In 2021 the biggest selling fight was Fury against Wilder

They sold around 600K pay per views

At the time of the Rumble in the Jungle boxing was a top 3 sport globally

It would now be lucky to be in the top 10 


That’s the danger of pursuing loyalty over growth