Editorial: Pay-to-view price could be halved

Joseph Parker (right) v Carlos Takam on Saturday night. Photo / Andrew Cornaga/www.photosport.nz

I didn't watch Joseph Parker's fight against Carlos Takam. I have Sky TV, but $50 is too much for a sporting event that might be all over in a few seconds. The fight went the distance, though, so paying viewers arguably got their money's worth.

And though the battle in the ring is over, there is still plenty of fighting talk from Parker's promoters Duco. Because about 100,000 people watched it illegally free of charge on social media.

That's an unquantifiable amount of lost dollars for Duco.

One-hundred-thousand people watching it free doesn't mean that's $5 million lost. But there are 100,000 people sufficiently engaged with Joseph Parker to take varying degrees of interest in his fight.

Perhaps rather than chase the shifting social media sands of lost dollars, Duco should step back and take a look at this potential new market.

Boxing has always operated amid the awkward juxtaposition of being a working class sport that can make people very, very rich.

Well, the so-called working class clearly aren't prepared to pay $50 to watch a fight on Sky, that interests them. But how much are they prepared to pay to watch the next fight if it was cheaper? Would Duco get more than twice as many people if the price was halved?

Or how much are the free-loaders prepared to pay for merchandise, or to join the JP fan club and get exclusive offers and deals. Parker is now the IBF's official mandatory challenger. So there is time for Duco to consider "what next?".

Duco CEO Martin Snedden understands how important engagement is between fans and the team or individuals that they idolise - he galvanised the country to get behind the 2011 RWC.

That required a strategy that ensured maximum fan engagement, well here's another scenario where it's a gimme that fans are going to follow a sport, or in this case, Parker's title fight.

Take it from someone who works in an industry where people access your most valuable commodity (news) for free, the horse has bolted.

Rather than trying to have the horse put down, Duco should try and tame it.