Jake Paul vs Tommy Fury, and the rising disruption of YouTuber boxing | by Megan Woods | Mar, 2023

Last weekend, Tommy Fury beat Jake Paul by an eight-round split decision in their long-awaited twice-cancelled boxing match. Despite both being social media stars and neither having a serious professional boxing background, it is estimated to be one of the most widely watched and lucrative boxing matches ever. Many traditional boxing fans may be quick to dismiss it as a mockery, but this fight offers a free lesson to traditional boxing that they shouldn’t ignore.

First off, who are they?

The two only had a combined experience of 14 professional fights. Yet, they headlined a pay-per-view event that retailed for $49.99 with early estimates already registering over half a million buys. Big names such as Christiano Ronaldo and Mike Tyson were also in attendance and celebrities like Drake got involved online, sharing a screenshot of his $400,000 (£335,000) bet on a Paul KO win. Given the fight’s popularity and their contract negotiations, it is estimated that Paul will make about $8.6 million for the fight and Fury $4.5 million. Not too bad for a Sunday night.

This just proved to be another example of the power of influencer self-promotion. Whilst they may not have the experience, as two social media stars their large following meant they were able to attract huge attention and interest. Paul has 70.1 million followers across social media platforms, huge in contrast to Fury’s 5.5 million, yet Fury had the additional appeal of his brother being boxing legend Tyson Fury. Their content creator backgrounds and online presence meant the average boxer trash-talking pre-match was trending online and generating headlines globally; having that level of reach gave them the ability to create significant noise and anticipation ahead of the fight.

Rise of YouTube boxing

Paul and Fury are an example of a new wave of disruption facing the Boxing industry — YouTube boxing (sometimes nicknamed Influencer boxing, Creator boxing). YouTube Boxing kickstarted in 2018 when two famous creators, KSI and Joe Weller fought for the first time. This attracted a peak audience of 1.6 million concurrent viewers, predominantly young teenagers who followed them on YouTube. The following year KSI challenged Logan Paul, drawing more than 1 million pay-per-views, and around 24 million views through fight replays across YouTube. Whilst the first fight may not have captured the attention of the Boxing world, this did, and since then it’s taken off.

For years one of traditional boxing’s problems is that top fighters were avoiding each other to avoid sullying their perfect records with a loss; leaving fans of the sport frustrated. In the past three months, big showdowns including Anthony Joshua vs Tyson Fury and Crawford vs Spence have fallen through, due to convoluted negotiations between organisers, promoters and broadcasters. What YouTube Boxing has done is given the sport a new lease on life, giving fans the action they crave with influencers and celebrities regularly stepping up into the ring.

Bringing in a new and more diverse audience to the sport.

Whatever traditional fans may think about the standard of boxing, one thing cannot be denied; YouTube Boxing is bringing in a whole new wave of fans to the sport.

In the last 5 years, the top 3 fights with the highest percentage of new customers came from fights that featured a YouTube star. Furthermore over 1 in 4 customers betting on the Tommy Fury v Jake Paul fight are predicted to be new customers, a stark comparison to the traditional boxing fight earlier this year between British rivals Chris Eubank Jr vs. Liam Smith, where only 2% of customers were new customers.

What does this mean for the future of Boxing?

As sports and entertainment worlds collide with a diverse new audience, YouTube Boxing is unsurprisingly becoming hugely lucrative and boxing promoters and broadcasters are acting quickly to capitalise on it. Last Sunday, Paul and Fury’s fight featured coverage from global broadcasters including BT and ESPN, whilst earlier this year broadcaster DAZN signed a five-year deal with the YouTube boxer KSI, for thirty events and six pay-per-view events in that package.

However, it’s more interesting to explore the wider long-term opportunity that YouTube Boxing is presenting for boxing associations to pull in new fans and monetise their engagement. Influencers bring with them the type of audience group that other sports typically chase, and bodies like the WBA and British Boxing Board of Control need to make sure they are best positioned to create and maximise value to, and from, them. Cricket is a prime example of a sport that has succeeded in this; In 2020 the ECB introduced a new format The Hundred which is faster and more dynamic than usual week-long test matches and with more regular matches, designed to appeal to a younger and more female demographic that was beginning to show an interest in the sport. It was a huge success, with half a million ticket sales in 2021, and 55% of attendees being new to the sport. To drive and monetise this deeper engagement Surrey & England Cricket introduced a membership proposition. Members are now allocated seats ahead of general release for all games hosted at the Kia Oval, including international matches and offered discounts on merchandise, local coaching courses, and access to players and coaches.

The World Boxing Council may be seen to have embraced YouTube boxing by offering a belt for the winner of the Fury Paul fight, but there is more they can do to build a direct relationship with this new wave of fans. First of all, just like The Hundred, there is an opportunity to offer a different format of boxing, where promoters have less power over event logistics and player contracts, taking inspiration from other industries that have structured leagues and regulatory bodies. Next, developing a compelling customer proposition to capitalise on new trends, that converts casual viewers into passionate fans so that even when their favourite influencer isn’t fighting they remain engaged with the sport. As in any sport, the majority of revenues will always be media orientated, and in boxing broadcasting and promoters aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, but boxing associations also have the opportunity to build long-term engagement and translate it into customer lifetime value with their own propositions or relevant partnerships/commerce.

High-profile fights like last weekends are interesting because they highlight the changing business of boxing. Yet writing this got me thinking about the sporting industry more broadly; what other sports face disruption by influencers? Do fans care about the quality of the game, or are they more interested in the spectacle and experience? Are sporting teams and associations ignoring valuable audience groups without realising? It’s not just boxing that’s facing new audiences and new challenges, and it’ll be interesting to see how it unfolds.

Megan Woods is an analyst at Manifesto Growth Architects a London-based growth strategy consultancy that specialises in building and improving subscription and membership propositions, audience engagement and go-to-market capabilities, working with entertainment brands such as Arsenal FC, Sky and Disney, as well as publishing like Hearst, Conde Nast, News Corp and Harvard Business Review.