Univision, the US-based Spanish language broadcaster has agreed to acquire what it describes as a ‘significant stake’ in the Combat Global mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion.
Both parties have been working since 2018 and signed a new five-year media rights deal in April that covers 30 events a year, with several of those set to be hosted at Univision’s production facility in Miami.
In its partnership with Univision, Combate will be looking forward to expanding its audience, the events of the current year have reached an average audience of 425,000 on the Spanish language network. The promotion’s recent event garnered a total audience of 543,000 viewers, Combate’s biggest broadcast audience since 2018.
Combate is an attractive property for Univision to market advertisers, with 47 per cent of its audience in the 18 to 49 demographic, the highest percentage among all MMA properties. Juan Carlos Rodriguez, the president of the broadcaster’s sports division revealed that combat sports rank as the second most popular sport among LatinX viewers.
Rodriguez said: “This investment marks the first step in Univision’s broader strategy to deliver more exciting, live combat sports to our audience.”
“Since teaming up in 2018, Univision and Combate Global have created an entirely new audience for MMA. Today, those content-hungry fans, combined with our dynamic athletes, represent the future of the sport”, added Campbell McLaren, chief executive of Combate Global.
“This announcement underscores Univision’s commitment to Hispanic MMA and we could not be more excited to further strengthen our successful partnership with them.”