UFC's Deal With Paramount Is Winning Move In Fight For Audiences

Forbes

3 days ago

Ultimate Fighting Championship events will begin airing on Paramount starting in 2026, according to an announcement on Monday.
With an average annual value of about $1.1 billion, the deal makes UFC one of the richest sports-related properties in the U.S. – behind the NFL, NBA and MLB in terms of media rights, but ahead of the NHL, Big Ten and SEC.
And by eschewing its traditional pay-per-view approach, UFC may now finally capitalize on its enormous audience reach.
Leaving Pay-Per-View Behind
In a media environment where consumers are already paying hundreds of dollars per month to stream sports and entertainment content, paying for pay-per-view has become a tougher sell. Recent research from Global Event Management shows major boxing events have seen major pay-per-view event audiences dip 25% over the last decade. And TKO Group, which owns both UFC and WWE, has clearly been paying attention to those market dynamics.
Just last week, WWE announced that traditional pay-per-view events like Royal Rumble and WrestleMania would move to ESPN platforms.
Effectively, TKO has opted for broader exposure over exclusivity; something that could ultimately be a boon for both properties as the battle for attention and hours of sports programming gets progressively tougher.
UFC, to its credit, already has a significant audience footprint despite the pay-per-view hurdle.
YouTube data provided by Tubular Labs shows that as a creator property, UFC-owned pages had a combined 1.2 billion global minutes watched on YouTube in June 2025 – making it the No. 20 most-watched U.S. media and entertainment property for the month. It also reached 40.4 million global viewers, which was up 30% month-over-month and ranked No. 33 among U.S. media and entertainment properties.
So the demand is clearly there. One could even argue the market has been largely under-served to-date given the barrier to entry pay-per-view creates.
Streaming's Continued Evolution
Paramount is also embarking on a bold move here to not just stand pat while Disney switches its approach to make ESPN one of the more essential subscriptions available. Between library entertainment content, plus premium sports like the NFL, college sports, golf and now UFC, Paramount is securing its own corner of the streaming landscape in a way that lets it legitimately compete with Disney and Netflix offerings.
These recent media rights deals centering around TKO Group holdings, however, illuminate the latest evolution for all of these entertainment companies' streaming offerings.
After years of streaming chasing exclusive programming, award wins and subscriber growth, these services are leaning more heavily on ads and popular content to simply look more like… TV again.
Leaning into advertising and content that works for the general population has helped fuel profitability for these services where it once eluded them – see Sara Fischer's recent write-up in Axios Media Trends there. And recent announcements leaning on bundles are a greater focus on just getting these services in front of as many viewers as possible.
The TKO Group deals, for both WWE and UFC, are yet another play toward that general population audience in a way that's unique compared to most of the other content offerings these services have. Without painting with too broad of a brush, both possess some appeal for audiences that streamers may have missed with prestige dramas, reality TV or franchise intellectual property.
Streaming services are individually turning themselves into mini cable bundles, and consumers have to determine which one checks enough boxes for them to sign up as an add-on or substitute for traditional TV. The influx of bundles helps reduce that decision-making somewhat. But the bundles still need marquee programming that possesses either strong niche appeal or general-market focus.
WWE and UFC rights help services like ESPN, Paramount+, Netflix and Peacock round out their audience graph in similar ways to recent team sports rights shifts, too.
The NBA now airing in part on Amazon Prime Video makes the latter more essential, while games airing on Peacock as well this fall helps that service make its own case. ESPN's WWE addition is a major win for that service's launch. Adding regional MLB action next season could make for an even bigger splash; because it makes the service a crucial part of audiences' daily and weekly rituals for months on end.
WWE and UFC come with built-in advantages much in the same way. Along with unique and possibly untapped audiences, they also bring ritualized behaviors as well. Dependable tune-in for major events and specific weekly bouts.
It's almost as if viewers just want to know when and where to tune in to what they like watching, right? After years of losing the plot on that front, it appears TV's figuring it out once again.