The Saudis aim to fix and lower the price of PPVs to combat what they feel is a problem of illegal streaming.
According to some reports, 20 million people watched Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk illegally, setting back the broadcasters over $100 million in lost revenue. It is alleged that 18 percent of the illegal streaming happened in the UK, while 25 percent was from North America.
The fight cost $69.99 in the US and around $32 in the UK. To combat the potential problem of illegal streaming, the Saudis aim to fix the PPV price to less than $20 globally, while the UK price would be less than £20 ($26). It will start with Anthony Joshua vs. Daniel Dubois, priced at £19.95 ($26).
“I dream of a PPV with a good price to make the fans happy and subscribe and get them to watch it legally. Usually when I see a high PPV, a lot of people go and watch the fight illegally and this is not healthy for boxing and the platform. What I will try to push is to have our Riyadh Season shows at less than £20 in England and less than $20 around the world…I would prefer to have one million fans subscribe and buy the PPV for £20 than less than 500,000 [for £40]. The people go around it illegally because the price is high. In the future, this will not build boxing. If I give the fans good fights at a good price then I will increase the fanbase,” Saudis
“We have a plan for the future to have something like a league. We don’t discuss about the belts until now. But in my opinion around 68 world champions is a crazy number,” Saudis