|
NEW YORK (Sept. 6, 2018) – After a 17-show inaugural campaign that attracted 84,000 views per event and nearly 1.5 million views for the series, Facebook FIGHTNIGHT LIVE next turns the corner to year two, looking to build upon its meteoric rise. Season II of the interactive and free fight series opens in the Fighting City of Philadelphia on Friday, Sept. 14, with an action-packed King’s Boxing card live from 2300 Arena.
The fan-friendly series that – among other aspects – prides itself on the real-time conversations held between fight commentators and the viewing audience showcased more than 300 fighters during 17 live event broadcasts in its first 12 months. In doing so, the interactive platform has generated the loyal interest of fight fans from across the United States and around the globe, including significant audiences in Mexico, the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe, and even fans in South America, Asia and Australia.
“We are extremely proud of what FIGHTNIGHT LIVE accomplished since May 2017. We’ve had 17 shows originating from New York, Boston, Atlantic City, Philadelphia, New England, Phoenix and America’s Heartland, where many different promotions gained an incredible amount of exposure via this exciting, truly social platform. To be able to have several events where more than 150,000 people have tuned in only scratches the surface on the market interest for these events, and we are ready to take FIGHTNIGHT LIVE to the next level in year two,” said Mark Fratto, Principal and Director of Business Development, Linacre Media.
“Beyond the numbers, we’re really pleased with the way the shows have been presented and produced,” Fratto continued. “We’ve been able to showcase more than 300 up-and-coming fighters to fight fans all over the world, and help them expand their bases. And we’ve been able to invite our viewers to be part of the action by fostering real-time interaction between our broadcasters and viewers on the fight activity, the decisions and the knockouts; it’s the next-best thing to having a ringside seat.”
“King’s Promotions is very excited to be working with Mark and the FIGHTNIGHT LIVE team,” said Marshall Kauffman of King’s Boxing, the eleventh promoter FIGHTNIGHT LIVE has showcased over its first 18 shows. “I believe we will bring the best-quality boxing to FIGHTNIGHT LIVE.”
In the main event, rising super middleweight prospect, Brandon “B-Rob” Robinson (10-1, 7 KOs) steps up in class when he takes on knockout artist Ernest Amuzu (24-3, 22 KOs), originally from Ghana. Also on the bill, undefeated three-time Olympian Anvar Yunusov (4-0, 1 KO) takes on 21-fight veteran Angel Monreal (10-10-1, 3 KOs). Other undefeated fighters seeing action will be Shyngyskhan Tazhibay (6-0, 2 KOs), Daiyann Butt (1-0), Alejandro Jimenez (2-0, 1 KO),Chrystian Peguero (2-0, 1 KO) and Keeshawn Williams (2-0-1, 1 KO).
Now at more than 1.4 million views for the series, FIGHTNIGHT LIVE has continued to deliver impressive numbers throughout its rookie season, which included seven live shows in the first five months of 2018:
- Over the first 11 months of Season I programming, the numbers on the 17-show FIGHTNIGHT LIVE series showed promise and potential for the new platform with an average of 83,714 fight fans tuning in per event and more than 1.4 million fans served.
- The Sept. 9 “Real Deal Promotions: Empire State” from Resorts World Casino (225,000), the August CES “Super Saturday” from Foxwoods (203,000), the Sept. CES “Twin River Twinbill” from Lincoln, R.I. (157,000) and the March 17 Murphy’s “St. Patrick’s Day Clash” (150,001) all logged 150,000 or more views, and collectively the 17-show series has seen a total of more than 30,000 total hours of Facebook video consumed by 1,423,132 users across all devices.
- In addition to the raw viewership numbers, the fully-interactive, fan-friendly productions have seen more than 173,000 collective live post engagements(more than 10,200 per show), including more than 116,000 “likes” or “loves,” almost 30,000 comments and nearly 10,000 shares.
- FIGHTNIGHT LIVE broadcasts are viewed by76 percent men, 24 percent women. The top demographic is comprised ofmales ages 25-34, which encompasses approximately 30.0 percent of the audience, on average.
- The Sept. 9 “Real Deal Promotions: Empire State” set a new bar with 224,658 viewsand the Sept. 15-16 DiBella-CES doubleheader carried the series to three-quarters-of-a-million views in just over four months. The Feb. 10 Hard-Hitting Promotions “Philly Fight Night” show stands out individually with 3,421 live hours of content viewed, while the Sept. 15 DiBella card saw more than 40,000 viewer interactions including almost 39,000 “likes” or “loves” and the March 17 Murphy’s “St. Patrick’s Day Clash” set a new high-water mark for shares with 2,182.
- The FIGHTNIGHT LIVE page on Facebook has more than 79,000 fans and more than 82,000 followers. And Facebook itself has taken notice – the world’s No. 1 social network recently profiled FIGHTNIGHT LIVE on its “Success Stories” media blog, noting the series’ use of industry best practices for production and interactivity: https://www.facebook.com/facebookmedia/success-stories/fightnight
Created and produced by Linacre Media out of New York City, the FIGHTNIGHT LIVE series features professional announcers, multiple camera angles, television graphics, replays and behind-the-scenes access and interviews. The streamed shows are available globally wherever Facebook is available. The initiative not only enables fans from around the world to tune in, but also gives up-and-coming fighters a global platform to showcase their abilities, gives promoters an accessible “broadcast” solution and gives sponsors the ability to reach a mass audience via branded content.
More FIGHTNIGHT LIVE Fall 2018 dates will be officially announced in the coming weeks.
FIGHTNIGHT LIVE is available online at: https://www.facebook.com/FaceFIGHTNIGHTLIVE/
Follow all the action via social media at FaceFIGHTNIGHTLIVE on Facebook, @FaceFIGHTNIGHTLIVE on Instagram and@FIGHTNIGHTLIVE_ on Twitter, or by using the hashtag #FIGHTNIGHTLIVE. For the latest Linacre Media events and broadcast schedule, follow @LinacreMedia across all social platforms or use the tags #LinacreMediaEvents or #LinacreMediaOnTV.