Beterbiev vs. Gvozdyk Averaged 635,000 Viewers

[Ruthless-RKO]

The battle of unbeaten light heavyweight title claimants headlined a live ESPN telecast, which drew an average of 635,000 viewers according to Nielsen Media Research.

Portions of the 114-minute live telecast ran head-to-head with the back end of FS1’s live coverage and post-game wrap of Game 5 of the Major League Baseball American League championship series between the Houston Astros and the New York Yankees, which topped the sports night with more than 5.6 million viewers watching the Yankees extend the series one more night.

Also not at all helping the broadcast was the delayed start time on ESPN’s linear network. The show was due to begin at 10:00pm ET, but had to spill over to sister outlet ESPNews due to live coverage of a college football game between Pittsburgh and Syracuse running long.

If there are ratings wins to be found for Top Rank and ESPN, it’s in the show boasting a 35% increase from the network’s previous live showing on Aug. 17, which posted a near-series low average of 471,000 viewers. It’s also a 32% improvement from the last ESPN show headlined by Beterbiev (15-0, 15KOs), as the two-time Olympian from Russia—who now lives and trains in Montreal, Canada—topped a May 4 card which averaged 480,000 live in primetime, while also going head to head with the NBA Playoffs and the DAZN-streamed middleweight championship bout between Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and Daniel Jacobs.

The first career loss for the 32-year old Gvozdyk saw a slight decline from his previous network appearance. The 2012 Olympic Bronze medalist from Ukraine drew an average of 655,000 viewers for a March 31 ESPN main event where he scored a 5th round injury stoppage of Doudou Ngumbu for the lone successful defense of his light heavyweight crown.

Friday’s viewership fell just short of network’s average of 647,500 viewers per boxing telecast in 12 previous shows in 2019. The platform has made a strong push to air much of its content on ESPN+, including a show this coming Saturday in Reno, Nevada. The series returns to ESPN prime on Nov. 2, as Miguel Berchelt defends his 130-pound belt versus former titlist Jason Sosa live from Carson, California.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Telecast peaked with 778,000 viewers at the initial tune-in.

[Jeff_lacy_ko]

Not good

I will admit I missed it. I assumed it was a Saturday night fight ...whoops

[Ruthless-RKO]

Any TR card on ESPN not including Crawford or Loma never crosses 1m..

This is actually in line, if not better than other cards. 2 Eastern European’s on a Friday night? Stiff competition.

Me and EO worked out a few years ago.. in the US, there seems to be around 600k hardcore boxing fans..

Let’s not forget we have Deportes, online and Canada.

[Cent0089]

isnt this pretty good for 2 eastern euros fighting at friday in Philly ? Wondering how much money these 2 het for that fight. Hopefully at least half million for each of them

[ValMar]

isnt this pretty good for 2 eastern euros fighting at friday in Philly ? Wondering how much money these 2 het for that fight. Hopefully at least half million for each of them

I hope they earned more..............

[Ruthless-RKO]

isnt this pretty good for 2 eastern euros fighting at friday in Philly ? Wondering how much money these 2 het for that fight. Hopefully at least half million for each of them

I hope they earned more..............

$1.5m apiece.

[ValMar]

I hope they earned more..............

$1.5m apiece.

Not so bad.

[Loki]

I was out Friday but recorded it. I bet the figures would’ve been better if it was on Saturday.

Beterbiev v Bivol anyone?

[cormack]

reality check for gvodzyk !

[Cent0089]

I hope they earned more..............

$1.5m apiece.

Good to hear it

[Best Coast]

I expected such a key matchup to do better number-wise but considering neither has much of a fanbase in the US and it was a Friday night I guess I shouldnt be surprised.

[Onetimeonly]

I expected such a key matchup to do better number-wise but considering neither has much of a fanbase in the US and it was a Friday night I guess I shouldnt be surprised.

There was a UFC on ESPN 2. I watched that first, a lead in from college football could have helped on Saturday, but that's about all you're going to get. We don't like boxing.

[Enlightened-One]

In the context of the typical viewing figures of Top Rank’s shows on ESPN, the Beterbiev-Gvozdyk event achieving an audience figure of 635K is moderately impressive.

Based on MMA Payout’s stats for ESPN’s last eight non-PPV event shows, which in turn are sourced by Nielsen, a typical Top Rank event on that network draws 550K viewers.

That being said, I strongly suspect that ESPN’s viewing figures are dwarfed by the numbers being achieved by DAZN & the PBC shows on Fox.

For instance, the Kownacki-Arreola PBC event on Fox averaged 1.301m viewers, peaking at 1.869m. Similarly, the Lara-Alvarez show covered by the same network averaged 1.171m viewers, peaking at 1.492m.

[Ruthless-RKO]

That being said, I strongly suspect that ESPN’s viewing figures are dwarfed by the numbers being achieved by DAZN & the PBC shows on Fox.

For instance, the Kownacki-Arreola PBC event on Fox averaged 1.301m viewers, peaking at 1.869m. Similarly, the Lara-Alvarez show covered by the same network averaged 1.171m viewers, peaking at 1.492m.

Yeh, ESPN should be doing similar numbers IMO..

I'm aware FOX is available in more homes than ESPN.

[Onetimeonly]

That being said, I strongly suspect that ESPN’s viewing figures are dwarfed by the numbers being achieved by DAZN & the PBC shows on Fox.

For instance, the Kownacki-Arreola PBC event on Fox averaged 1.301m viewers, peaking at 1.869m. Similarly, the Lara-Alvarez show covered by the same network averaged 1.171m viewers, peaking at 1.492m.

Yeh, ESPN should be doing similar numbers IMO..

I'm aware FOX is available in more homes than ESPN.

I wouldn't imagine it's too many more homes at this point. I'd think most streaming services carry both. Pain in the ass to have just the 4 main channels.

[adislav123]

Any TR card on ESPN not including Crawford or Loma never crosses 1m..

This is actually in line, if not better than other cards. 2 Eastern European’s on a Friday night? Stiff competition.

Me and EO worked out a few years ago.. in the US, there seems to be around 600k hardcore boxing fans..

Let’s not forget we have Deportes, online and Canada.

how did you work out" what seems to be" the number of "hard core boxing fans" in the US?

real hard core! 600 k! wow!!! cool work! thats what? 0.2 percent or something of all americans? must be the coolest dudes!

how many non hardcore bixing vans are there in the us?

how many hardcore boxing fanatics worldwide?

can u work out those numbers please

[Cent0089]

Wondering how much viewers watched Stevenson vs Gonzales in comparsion

[Ruthless-RKO]

Wondering how much viewers watched Stevenson vs Gonzales in comparsion

They don’t release figures from the app