HBO Showing No Signs of Decline in Wake of PBC's Rise
Boxing’s longstanding bastion of premier television content in the United States, HBO, shows no sign of decline with the rise of Al Haymon’s much-ballyhooed Premier Boxing Champions series. If anything, the folks over at HBO headquarters in New York have upped their game to unprecedented levels.
“There have always been other entities and other networks that televise boxing,” Ken Hershman, president of HBO Sports, told Bleacher Report.
“It comes with the territory. We understand that. What we focus on entirely is playing the HBO game: making sure we keep our eye on what’s important to us and to our subscribers. If we do that, we feel pretty comfortable that we’re going to be successful.”
HBO’s viewership numbers through the first part of 2015 suggest subscribers to the network, at least the ones who watch boxing, are tuning in more than ever right now.
According to Nielson Media Research, three live HBO boxing telecasts in 2015 have already substantially outperformed the highest-rated cable fight of last year, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. vs. Bryan Vera 2, and the belle of the ball, Canelo Alvarez vs. James Kirkland on May 9, was the most watched fight on cable television since 2006.
| Date | Bout | Viewers (in millions) |
| 5/9/2015 | Canelo Alvarez vs. James Kirkland | 2.146 |
| 4/25/2015 | Wladimir Klitschko vs. Bryant Jennings | 1.637 |
| 6/6/2015 | Miguel Cotto vs. Daniel Geale | 1.589 |
Hershman said the uptick in viewership numbers is no accident and at least in part related to newfound interest in the sport generated by the May 2 superfight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao HBO jointly televised with Showtime.
By surrounding Mayweather-Pacquiao with events featuring HBO’s star fighters, including Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez, Hershman believes the company has thoroughly capitalized on a time when perhaps more eyeballs were tuned to the sport than ever before.
“We made every effort to capture as many casual fans as possible around that time period. That’s why you saw that run of boxing we put on leading into Mayweather-Pacquiao and then coming out of it, because we knew there would be a halo effect from that fight. We knew we’d be introducing new fans to the fighters that we have on the network. And when you watch these guys fight, when you watch guys like Gennady Golovkin fight, you’re going to watch again.”
Hershman has been with HBO Sports since 2012, taking the top position over from Ross Greenburg after spending 20 years at rival network Showtime. HBO Boxing enjoyed what Hershman termed a banner year in 2014 in the wake of losing longtime HBO fighter Floyd Mayweather to Showtime one year prior.
After losing Mayweather, the preeminent star fighter in the sport, Hershman and company set about building a roster of new stars, the types he believes will help carry boxing into the post-Mayweather era. The strategy seems to be working so far.
“I think that the combination of the strategy we’ve put in place to develop the new names—putting them in compelling fights and picking the right style of fighters—is beginning to pay dividends. We’re very happy with the results, obviously, and we’re very happy with our roster of fighters. They all want to challenge themselves at the highest possible levels. They’re looking for the biggest impact they can make in the sport, and they know the HBO platform is the place to do that. We’re on roll, and we’ve built some good momentum and fans are responding.”
HBO’s most globally recognizable fighter right now is still Manny Pacquiao. But the names on the list after him are fighters who will be active long after both Pacquiao, 36, and Mayweather, 38, retire. Golovkin and Alvarez are probably the two with the most star power, but HBO hasn’t placed all its eggs in just those two baskets.
In fact, Hershman said the primary principle of becoming an HBO fighter these days is being someone who impresses fans enough in each outing to have them wanting more. Hershman said the scope goes well beyond any one or two fighters in particular.
“When you watch Nicholas Walters fight on Saturday night, you’re going to want to see him again.” He also mentioned Timothy Bradley, Felix Verdejo and Sergey Kovalev as the types of fighters HBO was happy to have on its roster.
Another element to HBO’s success is probably attributable to its wise use of different types of media. The television giant has made great strides over the last few years to become a leader in digital boxing content, something Hershman takes great pride in achieving.
“We’ve worked very hard to come up with a digital strategy that is authentic and that doesn’t just tweet for the sake of tweeting. It’s not a volume play. It’s actually very carefully considered, because we have a very sophisticated fanbase, and they know what content has meaning for them. They don’t just want volume for the sake of volume. I think what a lot of other people do is just say ‘we should just tweet a lot of stuff everyday’ and what happens is [people] just tune out and stop following it or don’t pay attention to it. It’s all noise.”
So you should never imagine Hershman at home on his couch browsing around the web on his phone looking for something to haphazardly tweet out to HBO Boxing's 400,000 Twitter followers. That’s not how it works.
“We actually take a very careful, curated approach to putting out very meaningful content that our consumers want and enjoy, but not overloading them so that it becomes blended together.”
But it’s not just art for art’s sake either. Everything created, whether it’s YouTube videos, Instagram posts or just tweets and Facebook posts, is done so to connect fight fans to HBO’s fighters.
“We absolutely want and need our subscribers to be invested into these athletes, emotionally, and to understand them, to like them or even not like them. That’s what HBO does better than anybody: storytelling.”
HBO’s focus more on building narratives around fights and fighters to create a connection with its intended audience is unparalleled in the sport of boxing today. Hershman believes the company strategy is a perfect fit for the sport, one with colorful characters, high-drama athletic contests and virtually unfettered openness to its star practitioners.
“The great thing about boxing is that there are no barriers to access. The fighters are very open to it. They understand the need to pull back the curtain and let people see the way they train and the way they live. It’s very compelling programming, and it results in people caring. When you see Gennady Golovkin, and when you see Sergey Kovalev, and you see them with their children and you see them with their wives and you see them enjoying the fruits of their efforts, you want to watch them and you want to root for them. It makes for very compelling television.”
The numbers so far suggest HBO is creating more compelling boxing content than ever in 2015. And with potential superfights looming between Alvarez, Golovkin and Miguel Cotto, it seems likely to continue in the near future too.
Whatever else happens around that, whether a PBC rise or fall, a Showtime counterpunch or an unforeseen threat emerging in hopes of taking over its place in the boxing landscape, HBO Boxing appears to be on its way to an incredible 2015 campaign.
Kelsey McCarson also contributes to The Sweet Science and Boxing Channel. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes and information was obtained firsthand.
