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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   2296 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for April 7, 2023

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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I don't understand the economics behind UFC fights. Why would anyone pay money for a PPV? The matches are very short, way shorter than for other sports. Short enough to embedded in a gif or other media and share on twitter/youtube/facebook, without having to worry about it being taken down or bandwidth issues. You cannot do that with a basketball game. There is tons of filler for what is otherwise minutes of fighting.

Why would anyone pay money for a PPV?

As a fan myself: I'd bet most people don't pay (full price) on their own.

They go to some licensed bar with friends and watch it while eating chicken wings. Or they pool their money at home.

Also: they don't have to do this often (a few times a year for fights they like) so the price might not be that out of whack with what people pay to watch football on cable. If you're a "Conor McGregor fan" you'd be lucky to see him fight three times a year, compared to 38 games for Manchester United in the Premier League alone (iirc we're now around 60 total games a season for a soccer team).

Short enough to embedded in a gif

If it's a KO. But a full fight can range from 15-25 minutes which is significant (consider that like 30% of football's 90 minute run time is dead time too). Full fights are much more likely to get hit with strikes.

You can also provide a football goal as a GIF but fans still want to see the whole thing.

If you care about getting it as fast as possible in good quality too you might pay. Eventually someone will put the whole fight up online but not before it's spoiled for you.

Weaker guess: The parasocial relationship is easier to attach to the individual fighter/is stronger than the organizational team. The individual fighter has a sole ethnicity and nationality, which makes tribal rallying easier.

Stronger guess: For a variety of reasons (not saying they are good, carefully thought reasons) casual and addicted gamblers are more confidant in individual fighters to not throw matches or prearrange results or be screwed by officiating- the PPV cost is insignificant compared to the cash they have bet, legally or illegally.

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