Lots Of Interest In Triller Actual PPV Numbers From Saturday

Without question, Triller’s “Fight Club” PPV event in Atlanta Saturday night had massive interest online and with social media throughout the over four hour broadcast. The event mixed musical acts with it’s fight card to create millions and millions of views/impressions everywhere. From Snoop Dogg to Justin Bieber to Oscar De La Hoya to Jake Paul and back, there were celebs and popular influencers everywhere to bring in potential audience.

Now comes the interesting part: what kind of actual paying numbers did the PPV that featured popular Youtuber Paul destroying amateur wrestling star/MMA fighter Ben Askren in the main event with one first round punch actually do?

First, as a reference, the “Legends League” PPV that Triller did in November featuring Hall of Famers Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. in an exhibition bout reportedly garnered over 1 million buys for a massive $50 million+ windfall for Triller. That’s if, that number is/was legitimate.

More than one TV industry source pointed out then and still do that Triller did not, and has not, had to verify the amount of who actually purchased their November show to any independent accounting outlet.

Further, the company has previously been involved in an audience/user “inflated numbers” dispute where it was alleged that they were exaggerating their user numbers and app downloads by as much as 80%.

Triller fought back at the reporting company who made the assertion threatening to sue and they eventually backed off the claim of how much Triller exaggeration was going on or not. But still, it’s not known what the true numbers are: who’s downloaded and who regularly subscribes/purchases their shows, events, etc.?

Now, we bring it back to Saturday night.

Paul took to social media Sunday afternoon claiming a massive win for Triller with PPV buys,

pic.twitter.com/5R7FBovXMZ

— Jake Paul (@jakepaul) April 18, 2021

Paul later followed up online that the PPV was up over 1.5 million buys.

And, our colleague Michael Woods of NYFights.com (who does a very reputable job of reporting facts) wrote Sunday night that the number is now approaching two million buys.

UPDATE: Fresh data collection info out, @triller folks think the #PaulvsAskren PPV snagged 1.8++ million buys. https://t.co/QFOlYZfM5t

— Michael Woods (@Woodsy1069) April 19, 2021

Again, that’s according to Triller without any known, true verification of what the true buying audience was? However, it would be a HUGE financial win for Triller and those involved if those numbers are 50% of what they are alleging.

The ultimate importance of all of this is obviously: the future.

The future for Triller mixing, music, entertainment and fights as “events.”

The future of PPV bouncing back as a legitimate massive revenue stream.

The future for mega-fights to begin to happen, again for later this year and 2022, etc.

Now, we know that several massive fights involving former multi-division, unbeaten world champ Floyd “Money” Mayweather at the end of his career broke the PPV “bank.” These include the (documented independly) nearly 5 million buys for his May 2015, long delayed showdown with Manny Pacquiao. Then, later the over four million buys for his fight with MMA star Conor McGregor in August of 2017.

As a further reference point, you can go back to 2000 and the biggest Heavyweight PPV ever involved Tyson and Lennox Lewis registering nearly 2 million buys.

Now, the Heavyweight title showdown in February 2020 between Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder struggled to get to 1 million PPV purchases. This despite massive publicity through traditional outlets like ESPN and Fox Sports. And, rest assured, that the likes of Matchroom Boxing, Top Rank, Premier Boxing Champions, are watching what’s going on with Triller’s model with great interest.

This is especially for the proposed Fury-Anthony Joshua Undisputed Heavyweight Title bout for later this year and how to get the fighters their massive guarantee demands.

Brining it back to their immediate future, Triller’s next big “event”/boxing card is their one in June involving Undisputed Lightweight World Champ Teofimo Lopez defending his titles with 58 year old former Heavyweight Champ Evander Holyfield scheduled in an exhibition bout in the co-feature.

Can Triller sustain what they claim to have gotten Saturday in buying audience?

Time and the paying public will be the answer.