Vasiliy Lomachenko vs. Teofimo Lopez Is A Ratings Success
Vasiliy Lomachenko vs. Teofimo Lopez was hyped as the biggest boxing fight of the year and it certainly delivered.
The pair collided in their highly-anticipated lightweight title unification clash this past weekend that saw Lopez upset the odds and outbox Lomachenko on his way to a unanimous decision victory to become the unified and undisputed 135-pound champion.
Given the COVID-19 pandemic, rather than broadcast the fight on pay-per-view, it was instead broadcast on free television on ESPN as well as the streaming platform ESPN+.
And the results were there for all to see as the fight peaked at almost 3 million television viewers making it the most viewed boxing telecast across all cable networks since 2019. In addition, it was the most streamed boxing event ever on ESPN and ESPN+.
As per Yahoo, the exact number for the peak audience was 2.898 million which means it is certain to have exceeded 3 million viewers for at least a minute.
The entire six-hour block which included the early prelims averaged 1.5 million viewers while the main card — beginning at 10 p.m. ET — averaged over 2 million viewers.
All in all, it was a ratings success and showed what can happen if a fight is free to watch and heavily promoted as if it was a pay-per-view. ESPN and Top Rank will be looking to build on the momentum when the likes of Naoya Inoue and Terence Crawford compete in the next few weeks.
What do you make of these ratings?
