Paramount+ Received About 1 Million New Subscribers From First UFC Occasion: Exec

UFC is already successful for Paramount+.

Paramount’s flagship streaming service generated about one million new subscribers on the day of its first-ever UFC occasion, Paramount product chief Dane Glasgow instructed staff in a city corridor on Tuesday morning, three staffers who attended the assembly instructed Enterprise Insider.

A Paramount spokesperson stated: “These numbers are unverified, and it is towards our coverage to share speculative knowledge externally.”

In August, Paramount did a cope with UFC guardian TKO that can see it pay $7.7 billion to safe UFC rights within the US for seven years.

Glasgow stated on the city corridor that Saturday was the second-largest day of sign-ups ever for its streamer, and that UFC 324 was the second-most-streamed sporting occasion on the service, in response to two staff.

Notably, Paramount made its UFC matches obtainable for anybody with a Paramount+ subscription, which begins at $8.99 a month. Earlier than the Paramount deal, many UFC matches had been solely on pay-per-view for round $80 every.

Paramount beforehand introduced that its UFC broadcast had slightly below 5 million common viewers for the principle card. Paramount CEO David Ellison instructed staffers in an electronic mail that it was “the largest-ever unique reside occasion for Paramount+.” The streamer has drawn bigger audiences to different non-exclusive reside occasions, together with NFL video games that ran on each Paramount+ and CBS.

“This record-breaking efficiency is, above all, a testomony to the extraordinary teamwork throughout our whole firm,” Ellison instructed staff in his memo, which was obtained by Enterprise Insider.

For context, Netflix’s Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson combat added about 1.4 million US subscribers to that service in November 2024, in response to the subscription knowledge agency Antenna. The agency solely tracks US knowledge.

Antenna estimated that Paramount+ reeled in an estimated 3.2 million new US prospects when it hosted the Tremendous Bowl in 2024.

Learn Ellison’s full memo to staff under:

Group,

An enormous congratulations to everybody who contributed to the success of our first UFC occasion on Paramount+! A number of members of our management group and I had been cageside Saturday night time, and we had been utterly blown away by the expertise and by the depth, ability and coronary heart on show throughout the cardboard. We left the T-Cell Area in Las Vegas extra excited and energized than ever about our partnership with Dana White and the complete TKO/UFC group.

I’ve heard from a number of executives at TKO/UFC, they usually additionally couldn’t be extra happy with how all the pieces got here collectively. It was a implausible begin to our 7-year partnership!

Whereas we went into the weekend with excessive expectations, I am thrilled to share that we exceeded them, reaching practically 5 million streaming views — the largest-ever unique reside occasion for Paramount+. And the precise viewers was doubtless even larger, given how widespread co-viewing is amongst UFC followers.

This record-breaking efficiency is, above all, a testomony to the extraordinary teamwork throughout our whole firm. Each single enterprise unit, division and group — from Paramount+, Paramount Photos and CBS to MTV, BET, Nickelodeon and Pluto, in addition to Advertising, Social, Advert Gross sales, Know-how, Occasions and extra — got here collectively, rolled up their sleeves and bought inventive. The unbelievable energy of Paramount One to succeed in the broadest potential viewers was on full show companywide, and UFC 324 stands as our strongest instance but of what we will obtain once we all work collectively towards a standard purpose.

Once more, hats off to everybody. With practically 5 million streaming views and record-breaking engagement, UFC 324 set the bar excessive, and we will not wait to maintain the momentum going at UFC 325 subsequent weekend in Sydney!

Let’s go!

David