UFC 324 marked the beginning of the Paramount+ era, and with it the end of the $80 PPV for American fans. That’s pretty cool! Less cool: the sheer amount of ads jammed into the event, almost completely removing fighter walk-ins and corner work in between rounds.
Anyone paying attention to how live sports operate in the era of streaming would have been prepared for advertisements to appear on UFC 324, even if they were paying for the more expensive Premium tier of Paramount+. As a Canadian, I still
paid $80 to watch the event and I got just as many TurboTax commercials and Scream 7 previews as anyone else. That’s just the nature of the beast, and I accept it with begrudging good grace.
But when part of the actual sport gets carved off so a few more ads can get jammed in, it starts to feel a tad much. And based on UFC CEO Dana White’s answer to a question regarding the ads, things may not get better.
“I haven’t seen it yet and all of this is a work in progress,” White said at the UFC 324 post-fight press conference. “It’s $8.99. You’re not paying f–king however much anymore. These [Paramount] guys got to make some money, too. So yeah.”
When asked if this is a case of ‘Paramount paid for it so they can do what they want,’ White agreed.
“That is a fact, let’s start there,” he said. “But these guys are incredible to work with already, so we’ll figure it out.”
There was a time way back in the day where concerns like this were brought to Dana White because he actually cared about the fan experience and fixed problems like this when they came to his attention. And let’s be clear, there are solutions to this problem that allow Paramount+ to make their money and don’t rob fans of key elements of the broadcast.
If Paramount+ wants to fit more ads in during the walkout and in-between rounds, they can sell those parts as sponsored segments and wrap the outside of the screen with ad graphics. Fans still get to watch the sport they tuned in to watch, sponsors still get high visibility, and executives get to brag about how much more sawdust they added to the rice krispie without anyone noticing.
Because right now, fans have noticed and they’re not happy.
