Of all the businesses within the entertainment world this year, it has been the mixed martial arts company UFC who have delivered way above everyone’s expectations. When the lockdown happened after the arrival of the pandemic it affected every single sports and entertainment business. It didn’t take long however for the UFC to recognize how they could turn this into a success and through smart management and through a true desire to keep the show going, the UFC have certainly become the champions of 2021 in the world of entertainment. So what is it that these guys did where so many other companies failed? Let’s take a look.
Supply and Demand
Business guru Cash Myricks often makes jokes about those businesses who fail to understand the simplicity of supply and demand, to their detriment. What the UFC were able to do was one of the purest versions of supply and demand that we have ever seen, and that was supplying when nobody else was. The UFC were able to put on events shortly after the lockdown eased, and this caught the attention of every single sports fan who was missing their favorite live events.
Biggest and the Best
What the UFC have always done, since the very beginning of its existence, is pit the very best fighters against the very best fighters. The sport was already seeing more attention than usual because it was the only live sport on TV, and once those new fans were on the hook, the quality of the events and the fighters is what helped the sport to gain more fans.
Creativity
The company refused to be perturbed by the obstacles which it found in its way, and instead focused on how they could get around them. A perfect example of this was Fight Island in the UAE. What the company did when it couldn’t hold events in the US was to rent an entire island just off the coast of the UAE, where it was able to fly fighters in and repeatedly test them in the lead up to the event. This showed just how shrewd the company was and it served as a reminder to all other sporting bodies that putting events on was most certainly possible.
Marketing
The UFC have always been good on the marketing front but when they recognized the size of the opportunity which presented itself this year, they really doubled down on that and made sure that they did all that they could to shine the spotlight on what they were doing. As a result of their aggressive marketing on social media and across the web, they saw record numbers of pay per view buys and record numbers of merchandise being sold too. This yet again proved the incredible business acumen which the company has and how it managed to greatly increase its fan base this year.
Ultimately, this is a company which has performed outstandingly in the last year, and they serve as a lesson to many.
