Innovative and Fastest Growing Combat Sports League Saw More Than 5.9 Million Live Streams of Season Finale, a 2.2X year-over-year increase
Event Day Social Reach Topped 12.5 Million Impressions, Up 63% vs. Season 4 Start
Nearly six million viewers watched the live stream of last month’s Karate Combat: Season 4 Finale event and social media engagement on event day topped 12.5 million impressions, setting two new records for the world’s fastest-growing fight promotion.
Headlined by ‘Turbo’ Ross Levine becoming Karate Combat World Middleweight Champion after defeating defending champion Shahin ‘The Lion’ Atamov, the June 25 event at The Backlot @ Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida was the organization’s first live event on US soil post-pandemic.
A sold-out crowd was joined by millions of viewers watching live worldwide as Karate Combat delivered it’s unique and proprietary blend of live-action, full-contact Karate fights taking place in immersive CGI environments powered by the Epic Game’s Unreal Engine software,
Livestream numbers for ‘Live +3 days’ (akin to the ‘Live +3’ TV rating used for linear television broadcasts) more than doubled year-over-year, exceeding 5.9 million views across Meta’s Facebook and Instagram platforms, along with YouTube, TikTok, Snap, Twitter and Karate.com.
Social impressions on Season Four Finale event day topped 12.5 million, up more than 63% versus the premiere event of Season 4 in May and setting a new social impressions record for the promotion.
Karate Combat achieved this success by utilizing a “democratize digital distribution” strategy aimed entirely at serving the Generation Y and Generation Z cohorts, digital natives who favor streaming over linear television.
Karate Combat events are streamed live across all the major social platforms, with the full card then immediately re-posted as video-on-demand, in contrast to other promotions which restrict their social streaming and place most of their content behind paywalls.
As a result of this strategy, males aged 18-34 - the most valuable demographic in sports marketing and the demographic most desired by advertising sponsors - comprise 70-90% of Karate Combat’s digital viewership audiences.
Additionally, a network of linear and OTT TV global distribution partners delivered Karate Combat: Season 4 to millions of households worldwide.
“The Karate Combat Season Four Finale delivered in every way, from the fighter’s performances in The Pit to the record streaming numbers generated by our global fan base. It was a hugely successful return to live audience events post-pandemic and we look forward to returning to The Backlot @ Universal Studios on August 27th for Karate Combat 35 - stay tuned to Karate.com as we announce fights in the coming days,” said Adam Kovacs, Karate Combat President.
With over 600 million fans globally, modern combat sport - as defined by MMA - is the fastest-growing sport in the world and draws most of its fanbase from the young male Gen Y and Gen Z demographic which is highly prized by advertisers.
Globally, Karate has a higher participation base than MMA, at over 100 million participants, with a compound annual growth rate of 160%, and is an Olympic sport. Karate Combat is now the fastest growing league in the fastest growing sports genre.
Karate Combat’s trademark competition setting is powered by the industry-leading Unreal Engine and has created an instantly recognizable CGI-based look borrowing from the best of video games, blockbuster moviemaking and traditional sports combined.
About Karate Combat
Karate Combat is the only combat sports league to blend the excitement of live-action, full-contact Karate with immersive CGI environments powered by the Epic Games Unreal gaming engine. Olympic medalists and national champions from around the world are just some of the elite black belts invited to compete in eight different weight divisions in pursuit of a Karate Combat World Championship. Karate Combat maintains offices in the USA and EU. For more information, please visit www.Karate.com
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220711005595/en/
Contacts
John O'Regan
jj@Karate.com
+447888891861
