NEW YORK (Sept. 1, 2017) – Before fight fans turned their attention to the desert with knockout PPV numbers last Saturday, the FIGHTNIGHT LIVE Facebook series landed a massive haymaker of its own. Linacre Media and CES Boxing partnered on a pre Mayweather-McGregor card that ran from 6-9:30 p.m. ET live from Foxwoods in Connecticut, with the tech-forward, fan-friendly Facebook broadcast platform drawing an audience of 201,935 fight fans, and counting.
“Fight fans were primed and ready for Saturday night’s mega-event from Las Vegas, and we were pleased to be able to entertain so many with great fights from Foxwoods for the hours leading up to Showtime PPV,” said Mark Fratto, Principal and Director of Business Development, Linacre Media. “Of course we had some fans thinking they’d get to see Mayweather-McGregor, but we were quick to point them in the proper direction for that content. The hundreds of thousands that stayed on our platform saw some great action, including a wild ending in the CES main event. As a matter of fact, we saw 50,000 more fight fans log-in on Sunday to review the closing moments, and as always with our interactive Facebook shows, offer their own opinions and interpretations. We’re pleased to be able to announce that seven or more shows are being added to the calendar from September through November, including one leading into GGG – Canelo.”
Over the first four months of programming, the numbers on the FIGHTNIGHT LIVE series have showed promise and potential for the new platform with an average of more than 85,000 fight fans tuning in per event. The August “Super Saturday” from Foxwoods (202,000), the July Roy Jones Jr. “Desert Showdown” from Phoenix (63,000), the May “Slugfest at the Sun” from Mohegan Sun (46,000) and the June “Rosemont Rumble” from Chicago (32,000) saw a total of more than 8,000 total hours of Facebook video consumed by 342,000-plus users across all devices.
In addition to the raw viewership numbers, the fully-interactive, fan-friendly productions have seen more than 33,000 collective live post engagements, including more than 3,000 “likes” or “loves,” more than 10,000 comments and 3,000-plus shares.
FIGHTNIGHT LIVE broadcasts are viewed by 76 percent men, 24 percent women. The top demographic is comprised of males aged 25-34, which encompasses approximately 30 percent of the audience, on average.
The Aug. 26 Foxwoods “Super Saturday” show stands out individually with 201,935 views across 3,336 live hours of content, with 8,224 viewer interactions including 1,133 “likes” or “loves,” 1,570 comments and 1,392 shares.
“For more than 25 years, CES has delivered boxing excitement to fans all over the world. The tradition continued Saturday night at Foxwoods when we teamed with FIGHTNIGHT LIVE by using cutting edge technology allowing fight fans to view the fights live on Facebook. This historic, record-setting event was the result of a great production team and action-packed, competitive fights,” said CES President Jimmy Burchfield, Sr.
Facebook FIGHTNIGHT LIVE has been delivered to fans absolutely free since its May 2017 launch courtesy of corporate partners like Barbour One 9, Talent Management and Entertainment Production (www.barbourone9.com) and Northeastern Fine Jewelry (www.nefj.com).
Created and produced by Linacre Media out of New York City, the FIGHTNIGHT LIVE series features professional announcers, multiple camera angles, graphics, replays and behind-the-scenes access and interviews. The streamed shows are available globally wherever Facebook is available. The initiative not only enables fans from around the world to tune in, but also gives up-and-coming fighters a global platform to showcase their abilities, gives promoters an accessible “broadcast” solution and gives sponsors the ability to reach a mass audience via branded content.
More FIGHTNIGHT LIVE dates will be officially announced in the coming weeks.
FIGHTNIGHT LIVE is available online at: https://www.facebook.com/FaceFIGHTNIGHTLIVE/