BoxRec

now that is a great number considering it was on in the early hours of the morning...and the highlights the next day got 1.5 million!!! where as the fa cup final highlights only got 300 thousand! will this encourage itv to get involved with boxing again?? i wont hold my breath.........

Would the advertising make it worth ITV's while? To make boxing big in the UK again we need it on terrestrial TV.

carlbcfc wrote:Would the advertising make it worth ITV's while? To make boxing big in the UK again we need it on terrestrial TV.

surely if sky can make it work then itv could aswell......

Fingers crossed! I enjoyed Khan on ITV.

I think a format like prizefighter will be good on ITV as well.

Stick it in peoples faces, they will watch it.


Regarding Khan, are they only building him upto PPV status, then taking him off ITV?


Make it free, it hits millions more. But it seems they prefer the smaller premium payers.

Jesus wrote:

carlbcfc wrote:Would the advertising make it worth ITV's while? To make boxing big in the UK again we need it on terrestrial TV.

surely if sky can make it work then itv could aswell......

Different business models. Sky has a major revenue stream in the form of subscription to the sports channels and Box Office for the bigger fights. ITV doesn't have that so has to rely purely on advertising - and boxing is not a 'sexy' proposition for advertisers unfortunately.

Considering ITV did not spend 10p promoting it either.

Yeah- sharing live broadcasts might be the way to go, rather than doing the whole thing themselves. I'm guessing one of the big American companies organised the filim live, and ITV pay a fee to use the footage- must be the same with the world cup- one organisation does the filiming, lots of stations worldwide take the footage.

Adding to the great ratings in this country, the fight was also the highest rated boxing fight on HBO since Klitscho vs Arreola which was september 2009 so he's definately made a big impact where it counts most and set him up to be a superstar there if he keeps winning of cause.

Its laughable now to think people on here were knocking him for going to America!

And the last boxing before that (Barker) did good figures.

ITV missed a trick not continuing with Hennessey, particularly with the Super 6. Let's hope they have a re-think but I wont hold my breath

bfchunk wrote:ITV missed a trick not continuing with Hennessey, particularly with the Super 6. Let's hope they have a re-think but I wont hold my breath

But why did they? ITV are a business and if they can't make money from it, or rather if they can make more money from something else, why shouldn't they?
Don't get me wrong, from a fan's perspective I'd love it to be back on, but people seem to be forgetting that ITV is a commercial entity - if they can't get the advertising revenue from it there is no rationale to pursue it.
The BBC on the other hand, is a totally different matter. That organisation has a public service duty and no commercial pressure in terms of adverts so for it to ignore boxing given the size of the casual fanbase for the right fights is a genuine disgrace and, I suspect, one that is intrinsically linked to class snobbery.

That's fair comment. Ok, looking at this through rose tinted spectacles I'd love to see ITV make a proper job of this. Maybe they should have played the long game and tried to build their coverage up. End of the day its the money men who make the decisions. I'm typing this watching the CL final with two foreign teams on prime time saturday night ITV, which seems a bit odd. Maybe they are obliged by contract to show this live on ITV1. Bet the money men would rather there would be a dancing dog or a 90 year old singer being torn to shreds by a panel of experts right now.

The BBC is sooo bloody PC these days Boxing just doesnt fit in at all with them. I really begrudge paying my licence fee for the middle of the road sh!te they put on.

bfchunk wrote:That's fair comment. Ok, looking at this through rose tinted spectacles I'd love to see ITV make a proper job of this. Maybe they should have played the long game and tried to build their coverage up. End of the day its the money men who make the decisions. I'm typing this watching the CL final with two foreign teams on prime time saturday night ITV, which seems a bit odd. Maybe they are obliged by contract to show this live on ITV1. Bet the money men would rather there would be a dancing dog or a 90 year old singer being torn to shreds by a panel of experts right now.

The BBC is sooo bloody PC these days Boxing just doesnt fit in at all with them. I really begrudge paying my licence fee for the middle of the road sh!te they put on.

I would have thought the CL contract would have been done before the league even got underway and would cover every single game in the league not just the final. So ITV would have done the following:
a) Gambled based on the precedent of recent years that an English team would be in the final
b) Accepted that even if that preferred outcome didn't happen, it would still be worth it for the money they'd make on the group stages, quarters etc, involving English teams.

I also wouldn't be surprised if they sold advertising packages for some key brands for the entire CL campaign, rather than selling the final as a separate entity, so will have been able to 'ringfence' the majority of revenues.

Regarding the disgrace that is the BBC. We pay the fee, so I think there should be a fair proportion of pro boxing on it. They show Snooker, F1, Rugby, Athletics, Football, Olympics....but no pro boxing? We should have a choice of what they money is spent on.


A couple of years ago I moved house and didn't bother to get a TV licence. Few months later I hate 2 plod looking 'TV Licensing Officers' demanding to be let in. Fcukin n0bs there were.

Deserter wrote:

bfchunk wrote:ITV missed a trick not continuing with Hennessey, particularly with the Super 6. Let's hope they have a re-think but I wont hold my breath

But why did they? ITV are a business and if they can't make money from it, or rather if they can make more money from something else, why shouldn't they?
Don't get me wrong, from a fan's perspective I'd love it to be back on, but people seem to be forgetting that ITV is a commercial entity - if they can't get the advertising revenue from it there is no rationale to pursue it.
The BBC on the other hand, is a totally different matter. That organisation has a public service duty and no commercial pressure in terms of adverts so for it to ignore boxing given the size of the casual fanbase for the right fights is a genuine disgrace and, I suspect, one that is intrinsically linked to class snobbery.

I seem to remember ITV pulled the plug on Benny Hill when he was still getting great viewing figures. ITV may be a business but it is not immune to political correctness.

nobby_nobbins wrote:

Deserter wrote:

bfchunk wrote:ITV missed a trick not continuing with Hennessey, particularly with the Super 6. Let's hope they have a re-think but I wont hold my breath

But why did they? ITV are a business and if they can't make money from it, or rather if they can make more money from something else, why shouldn't they?
Don't get me wrong, from a fan's perspective I'd love it to be back on, but people seem to be forgetting that ITV is a commercial entity - if they can't get the advertising revenue from it there is no rationale to pursue it.
The BBC on the other hand, is a totally different matter. That organisation has a public service duty and no commercial pressure in terms of adverts so for it to ignore boxing given the size of the casual fanbase for the right fights is a genuine disgrace and, I suspect, one that is intrinsically linked to class snobbery.

I seem to remember ITV pulled the plug on Benny Hill when he was still getting great viewing figures. ITV may be a business but it is not immune to political correctness.

No-one is, because it will impact on your business if you're perceived to be non-PC. Viewing figures don't necessarily = money.

I would like to know the viewing figures in America!

terminator wrote:I would like to know the viewing figures in America!

HBO's highest rating Boxing show since Vitali-Arreola

mickey1975 wrote:

terminator wrote:I would like to know the viewing figures in America!

HBO's highest rating Boxing show since Vitali-Arreola

What are the actual numbers though and what other shows have taken place since the Vitali fight? Hard to gauge genuine impact without that context.

Deserter wrote:

No-one is, because it will impact on your business if you're perceived to be non-PC. Viewing figures don't necessarily = money.[/quote]

If you're talking about quantifying the effectiveness of TV adverts in terms of revenue generated, I don't think there are any reliable figures on that. But I can certainly imagine certain companies deciding they don't want their products associated with boxing.

The BBC should be showing boxing - that's the real issue for me. It has been proven that it is much more popular than most of the other sports that they show, and they are the ones who are actually supposed to respond to the wishes of the public. ITV can take or leave boxing as and when it's commercially viable, that is understandable, but for as long as there is public demand for it on television then the BBC should have at least some commitment to covering it. It's an ongoing disgrace that they don't.

Stasticics dont lie, 600 thousand people . They would be crazy to stop boxing

alexpaterson wrote:Stasticics dont lie, 600 thousand people . They would be crazy to stop boxing

Alex, no offence mate, but those stats aren't the numbers that count.

I thought that the typical boxer viewer is exactly who the advertisers were after. I'd guess they are mostly dads mid 30's to mid 50's, biggest earner in the household, decision maker on major purchases, close to or at peak earning potential etc. Wasn't chasing this demographic the reason ITV4 was created?

Unless the advertisers think that this demographic is going to tend to be too working class to have any disposable income i can't understand why they aren't after these guys or what more cost effective way they have to get them in front of the tv.

I do get angry at the BBC too as really it should only be showing programming that is not mass appeal. If it's mainstream enough to be commercial viable it doesn't need to be provided by a publicly funded service.

glahn wrote:The BBC should be showing boxing - that's the real issue for me. It has been proven that it is much more popular than most of the other sports that they show, and they are the ones who are actually supposed to respond to the wishes of the public. ITV can take or leave boxing as and when it's commercially viable, that is understandable, but for as long as there is public demand for it on television then the BBC should have at least some commitment to covering it. It's an ongoing disgrace that they don't.

I don't know how the BBC works but there's plenty of other sports which don't get a look in either, it still baffles me to this day why they prefer the ever worsening MotoGP over the vastly superior Superbike World Championship. How it works? I don't know, probably backhanders or something.