Fresh from its Sept. 22 Ultimate Fighting Championship Webcast, Internet company Payforview.com plans to stream video for at least three live pay-per-view events in the fourth quarter.
The Internet company generated around 350 buys for its live UFC Webcast, which retailed for $4.95, Payforview.com chief marketing officer Dan Scott said. Though offered through direct-broadcast satellite services, the UFC is not distributed via cable PPV because of its perceived violence.
The event did draw more than 113,000 users to the site during the cybercast, including 1,300 unique hits.
"The average length of time per visit was 15 minutes, so we were happy with the results," Scott said.
Along with the mixed martial-arts bouts, the Webcast also offered parallel content-including fighter bios, pictures, statistics and related trivia-at select moments during the live show. The event also featured an opportunity to chat live at ringside with a UFC expert.
Representatives from Semaphore Entertainment Group, which distributes the UFC events, could not be reached for comment at press time.
Payforview.com expects to stream another live UFC PPV event-and another martial-arts show-sometime next month, Scott said.
The company will offer a Nov. 14 PPV concert featuring rock 'n' roll veterans the Moody Blues for $4.95, Scott said. For a week after the event's premiere, payforview.com will offer the show on-demand at a reduced price of $2.95, he added.
Continuing its VOD experiments, Payforview.com will also offer one of acclaimed movie director Francis Ford Coppola's first films,Dementia 13, later this month. Scott said the horror film would be offered free of charge in an effort to drive visitors to the site.
"We were originally going to charge less than $1, but we decided it would be better to give the movie away in order to drive hits to the site," he said.
