The year 2019 was a fantastic year for professional wrestling and mixed martial arts, particularly in the realm of online video viewership.
The latest statistics released by leading independent global data and online video analytics provider, Tubular Labs, showed end-users and consumers gravitated more towards combat sports and martial arts content, compared to other sports.
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) topped the charts in 2019 with 14.6 billion video views, followed by perennial industry leaders, the National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Football League (NFL) with 10.3 billion and 6 billion views, respectively.
Singapore-based martial arts organization ONE Championship was fourth with 5.6 billion views, ahead of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in fifth with 3.8 billion.
Martial arts and combat sports segments took up three of the top five spots – a remarkable statistic based on the immense popularity of team sports like basketball and football.
Over the past few years, the rise of online short-format video has seen a significant increase in daily media consumption, globally. This format is primed to better hold the attention span of potential viewers because it combines a lot of information with concise delivery.
Thousands of videos are uploaded every day across all platforms, and the most interesting ones go viral.
According to Tubular Labs, there are more than 269,000 online creators who are each generating at least a million unique views every month. This is enough to post more than 6 billion videos, which Tubular Labs sifts through and measures.
The vast amount of media means the competition for viewership is fierce, and target audiences are fragmented and crowded. Every organization is competing for a slice of the pie, making this victory for martial arts even more impressive.
These combat sports properties boast a strong social media influence and have consistently delivered a stream of online video for mass media consumption.
ONE Championship offers its content for free via its Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram accounts, as well as through the ONE Super App, which is free for download on any mobile device equipped with Android OS or iOS.
A variety of content stacks are available around the clock, including full martial arts bouts, highlights, recaps, analyses, commentary, video blogs, and podcasts, as well as reality television and even esports.
