PBC captures key demographic

Al Haymon has been trying to bring boxing back to the forefront as a main staple in the sports landscape, and part of achieving this goal entails attracting a younger demographic to the sport. So far, so good. For the second consecutive time on network television, a PBC card has won a key demographic in the ratings, specifically the 18-49 age group. The first time was during the Thurman-Guerrero card several weeks ago.

Saturday's card drew an average viewership of 1.94 million people, with the viewership increasing every half-hour leading up to the main event, which peaked at 2.38 million - with about 900,000 of those folks between ages 18 and 49. This number is down some from the PBC premier with Thurman-Guerrero, but it still led all other programming for that age group.

"I'm pleased with that rating, because I want to see PBC succeed and that's because I want see boxing succeed," said Lou DiBella, one of the promoters for the PBC show Saturday night. "The 18-to-49 demographic for sports is what advertisers care about. There was a big NASCAR race on Saturday night, and that won the overall rating, but more people between 18-to-49 watched boxing. Boxing won that rating. The reason why TV executives used to say boxing is not on network TV is because the sport couldn't do well in the 18-to-49 demo. Now you have two PBC shows that won that demo. Anyone who doesn't get that is simply not well informed. Winning that demo in the future is great news."

Perhaps the best news is for Haymon and his investors. With his series performing well thus far on network television, paricularly in key demographics, expect the advertising dollars to start flowing in.