The viewership of the first MMA card streamed on Netflix peaked at nearly 17 million viewers during Ronda Rousey vs Gina Carano, Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) announced on Tuesday. The event, marking the promotion’s debut in mixed martial arts, aired live on May 16 from Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California.
- Globally, the card, also featuring Nate Diaz vs Mike Perry and Francis Ngannou vs Philipe Lins as the triple main event, “scored an estimated average minute audience (AMA) of 12.4 million Live+1 viewers, per VideoAmp, G&G and Netflix.”
- In the U.S., the card averaged 9.3 million viewers, peaking at 11.6 million viewers during Rousey vs Carano.
- It was also announced that the event generated 1 billion impressions across Netflix’s global social channels.
Total viewership Live+1 AMA estimates are derived from VideoAmp data in the U.S. (in-home, Live+1), G&G (U.S.), and first-party data outside the U.S.
Rousey vs Carano results
Former UFC champion Ronda Rousey (13-2) defeated Gina Carano (7-2) by first-round armbar submission. The official time of the stoppage was 17 seconds into the round.
Mike Perry (15-8) defeated fellow former UFC fighter Nate Diaz (21-14) by TKO, as the welterweight bout was stopped before the start of the third round due to cuts suffered by Diaz.
Former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou (19-3) earned a first-round knockout victory with punches over 2018 PFL champion Philipe Lins (18-6).
Also on the card, Salahdine Parnasse (23-2) stopped Kenneth Cross (17-5) in the first round with punches at lightweight.
Plus, Robelis Despaigne (6-2) defeated former UFC champion Junior dos Santos (23-11) by first-round knockout at heavyweight.
MVP co-founders on MMA debut
“MVP’s first entry into MMA delivered on a massive global scale and exceeded every expectation we had for the launch of this new chapter of our business,” MVP co-founders Nakisa Bidarian and Jake Paul said in a press release.
“The event also generated over 410 million impressions across MVP’s owned social channels, a live gate exceeding $2.2 million, and saw terrific commercial premises distribution across bars, restaurants, casinos, and hospitality venues nationwide. We’re incredibly proud of what was accomplished alongside our partners at Netflix and grateful to the athletes who helped make MVP MMA’s debut such a success.”
“We’ve received an overwhelming amount of interest from investors, strategic partners, and fighters who want to be involved with MVP and the future of MVP MMA. We are currently reviewing all strategic options to do something very meaningful within MMA on a go-forward basis with a distribution partner like Netflix that shares our vision to create lasting impact.”
The previous MVP event on Netflix last December featured Jake Paul taking on Anthony Joshua in a heavyweight boxing match, with a reported 33 million global Netflix viewers.