June 22nd’s hotly contested Paulie Malignaggi vs. Adrien Broner Welterweight World Championship fight attracted an audience of 1.3 million viewers, the second-largest viewing audience for a bout on SHOWTIME since the network began tracking individual fights in 2009.
The average viewership for the SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING televised tripleheader—promoted by Golden Boy Promotions from Brooklyn’s Barclays Center—was also the second highest average since Nielsen began separating SHOWTIME from the networks’ multiplex channels in 2004.
In the nearly 10 years since 2004, three of the top-four most watched SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING live telecasts have aired in the last seven months—Cotto vs. Trout, Dec. 2012; Malignaggi vs. Broner, June 2013; Canelo vs. Trout, April 2013—marking an upward trend. The fourth was Bernard Hopkins vs. Jean Pascal in 2010.
Further, the top-four largest audiences for an individual bout on SHOWTIME have come in the last 10 months—the aforementioned three plus Canelo vs. Lopez in Sept. 2012.
The surge in average viewership over the past two years represents an increase of over 50% since 2011 with two consecutive years of double-digit percentage gains. From 2011 through 2012, SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING ratings were up more than 30 percent and from 2012 to present, including last Saturday’s telecast, they are up 16 percent.
Malignaggi vs. Broner was in many ways a promotional dream – two of the biggest trash talkers and most brash personas in the business against one another. They have done nothing but continue the trash talking and animosity since the fight took place as well, leading to speculation that there could be a rematch of the bout. Broner won the affair by split decision to capture a title in a third weight division.
