Kovalev-Shabranskyy Peaked at 900K Viewers, Averaged 869K

[Ruthless-RKO]

Sergey Kovalev’s return from his second defeat to Andre Ward was a success in and out of the ring.
According to ratings released Wednesday by Nielsen Media Research, a peak audience of 900,000 viewers tuned in to HBO to watch Kovalev knock out Vyacheslav Shabranskyy in the second round Saturday night in The Theater at Madison Square Garden. An average audience of 869,000 saw Kovalev-Shabranskyy, which didn’t have much time to build an audience because Kovalev demolished his overmatched opponent so quickly.

Only one fight HBO has televised live this year – Terrence Crawford-Felix Diaz – did better ratings than Kovalev-Shabranskyy. Crawford’s technical-knockout win against Diaz drew a peak viewership of 1,036,000 and averaged 961,000 viewers May 20 from Madison Square Garden.

Earlier Saturday night, the opener of HBO’s tripleheader – Yuriorkis Gamboa against Jason Sosa – was watched by a peak audience of 846,000 viewers and an average audience of 763,000. Cuba’s Gamboa (28-2, 17 KOs) beat Sosa (20-3-4, 15 KOs), of Camden, New Jersey, by majority decision in a competitive, 10-round battle between former 130-pound champions.

[Ruthless-RKO]

It's a dip from his previous number before the two Ward fights.. but I think based on what other boxers are getting.. they're not bad numbers at all. It only last 2 rounds anyway. Sosa and Barrera achieved good numbers for the undercard too.

Pre-Ward, Kovalev used to achieve an average 1 million viewers. So it's not s big drop. GGG has only been involved in PPV fights this year.. and non of Arum's boys ever achieved over 1 million on HBO.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Terrible

[Ruthless-RKO]

Terrible

Of course it's not what is used to be. But compared to others today on HBO and Showtime.. it's not that bad.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Terrible

Of course it's not what is used to be. But compared to others today on HBO and Showtime.. it's not that bad.

It's pretty brutal.

[Enlightened-One]

The numbers aren't good.

[Ruthless-RKO]

The numbers aren't good.

There is probably only a select few that get higher numbers on HBO and Showtime. PBC tend to get higher numbers, always in the millions.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

HBO is always higher than Showtime, the only PBC fights of note are on Showtime now. Almost never over a million. ESPN is probably the highest right now and their numbers are shit too. Boxing is dead here. I like HBO getting involved in the lower weights, but they've pretty much just resigned themselves to shit cards.

[Blodhemn]

More than I'd expect since HBO seems to have given up on boxing save for serving as a place for Lampley to have a job. Don't know why anyone would keep their subscription going.

[Enlightened-One]

The numbers aren't good.

There is probably only a select few that get higher numbers on HBO and Showtime. PBC tend to get higher numbers, always in the millions.

In 2015, the third Rios-Alvarado fight drew 1.315 million viewers on HBO.

I could list multiple fights of similar stature to Kovalev-Shabranskyy that drew far greater audience figures on HBO.

[Mexi-Box]

The numbers aren't good.

There is probably only a select few that get higher numbers on HBO and Showtime. PBC tend to get higher numbers, always in the millions.

In 2015, the third Rios-Alvarado fight drew 1.315 million viewers on HBO.

I could list multiple fights of similar stature to Kovalev-Shabranskyy that drew far greater audience figures on HBO.

That's not similar stature. Rios/Alvarado: III was the trilogy of a series of FoTY contenders. Who the hell was Shabranskyy? This was all Kovalev, and it shows that Kovalev is still a draw. Ratings are in the sink right now. This is very good, actually, with all things considered.

Kovalev coming from a recent defeat with no belts and Shabranskyy coming in as the no-hoper.

[Enlightened-One]

There is probably only a select few that get higher numbers on HBO and Showtime. PBC tend to get higher numbers, always in the millions.

In 2015, the third Rios-Alvarado fight drew 1.315 million viewers on HBO.

I could list multiple fights of similar stature to Kovalev-Shabranskyy that drew far greater audience figures on HBO.

That's not similar stature. Rios/Alvarado: III was the trilogy of a series of FoTY contenders. Who the hell was Shabranskyy? This was all Kovalev, and it shows that Kovalev is still a draw. Ratings are in the sink right now. This is very good, actually, with all things considered.

Kovalev coming from a recent defeat with no belts and Shabranskyy coming in as the no-hoper.

Golovkin-Monroe Jr 1.3m?
Crawford-Jean 1.017m?
Klitschko-Jennings 1.637m?
Alvarados-Rios 1.2m?
Ward-Barrera 1.064m?
Crawford-Lundy 982K?
Bradley-Vargas 1.121m?
Ward-Barrera 1.064m?
Golovkin-Wade 1.325m?
Kovalev-Mohammedi 1.014m?
Gonzalez-Arroyo 1.001m?
Hopkins-Smith Jr. 0.934m?

[Ruthless-RKO]

Let's take a look at Kovalev.. All on HBO

vs. Shabbs - 869,000 average - 900,000 peak

vs. Chilemba - 355,000 viewers average (afternoon showing)
vs. Pascal II - 1.179 million average - 1.269 million peak

vs. Mohammedi - over 1 million average
vs. Pascal I - 1.152 million average

vs. Hopkins - 1.328 million average
vs. Caparello - 990,000 average - 1.052 million peak
vs. Agnew - 1.006 million average - 1.048 million peak (The match went on to be the largest ever for a college basketball game on cable television at the time with an average 9.9 million viewers.)

vs. Sillakh - 1.25 million average

[Mexi-Box]

In 2015, the third Rios-Alvarado fight drew 1.315 million viewers on HBO.

I could list multiple fights of similar stature to Kovalev-Shabranskyy that drew far greater audience figures on HBO.

That's not similar stature. Rios/Alvarado: III was the trilogy of a series of FoTY contenders. Who the hell was Shabranskyy? This was all Kovalev, and it shows that Kovalev is still a draw. Ratings are in the sink right now. This is very good, actually, with all things considered.

Kovalev coming from a recent defeat with no belts and Shabranskyy coming in as the no-hoper.

Golovkin-Monroe Jr 1.3m?
Crawford-Jean 1.017m?
Klitschko-Jennings 1.637m?
Alvarados-Rios 1.2m?
Ward-Barrera 1.064m?
Crawford-Lundy 982K?
Bradley-Vargas 1.121m?
Ward-Barrera 1.064m?
Golovkin-Wade 1.325m?
Kovalev-Mohammedi 1.014m?
Gonzalez-Arroyo 1.001m?
Hopkins-Smith Jr. 0.934m?

As I said, the climate is different from when those fights were happening and right now. You're not making a correct comparison just shoveling out numbers with no context.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Golovkin-Monroe Jr 1.3m?
Crawford-Jean 1.017m?
Klitschko-Jennings 1.637m?
Alvarados-Rios 1.2m?
Ward-Barrera 1.064m?
Crawford-Lundy 982K?
Bradley-Vargas 1.121m?
Ward-Barrera 1.064m?
Golovkin-Wade 1.325m?
Kovalev-Mohammedi 1.014m?
Gonzalez-Arroyo 1.001m?
Hopkins-Smith Jr. 0.934m?

You can't just double up lol

[Enlightened-One]

Golovkin-Monroe Jr 1.3m?
Crawford-Jean 1.017m?
Klitschko-Jennings 1.637m?
Alvarados-Rios 1.2m?
Ward-Barrera 1.064m?
Crawford-Lundy 982K?
Bradley-Vargas 1.121m?
Ward-Barrera 1.064m?
Golovkin-Wade 1.325m?
Kovalev-Mohammedi 1.014m?
Gonzalez-Arroyo 1.001m?
Hopkins-Smith Jr. 0.934m?

You can't just double up lol

I doubled up only once. That's obviously a typo.