Despite UFC President Dana White’s promise that Mayweather vs. McGregor was the biggest pay-per-view of all-time, it was not. In a press-release today, Showtime Sports released the official buyrates for the bout.
Though a respectable figure, placing the boxing champion vs. MMA champion bout in the #2 all-time slot of pay-per-views, Mayweather vs. McGregor officially garnered 4.3 Million North American buys. This is 300k short of the record set by Mayweather vs. Pacquiao.
Here’s Showtime’s press release:
[Press Release] SHOWTIME Sports confirmed today that the SHOWTIME PPV presentation of Mayweather vs. McGregor on August 26, 2017 generated 4.3 million pay-per-view buys in North America. This includes traditional television distribution and online portals such as the new SHOWTIME PPV app and SHOWTIMEPPV.com as well as UFC.TV in U.S. and Canada.
Mayweather vs. McGregor, a four-fight SHOWTIME PPV boxing event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, officially stands as the second largest pay-per-view event of all time behind Mayweather vs. Pacquiao, which set the North American pay-per-view mark at 4.6 million buys in 2015. The SHOWTIME PPV totals for Mayweather vs. McGregor far exceed the now third best event in history—nearly doubling the 2.48 million buys for Oscar De La Hoya vs. Mayweather in 2007.
The total global revenue from the event including ticket sales, sponsorship and international distribution exceeds $600 million, which—along with Mayweather vs. Pacquiao— is among the largest for a single-day sporting event of all time. Mayweather and SHOWTIME PPV now account for the three highest grossing pay-per-view events in television history with the third-ranked event Mayweather vs. Canelo from 2013.
