About 2.9 million people watched Saturday’s big fight illegally through pirated streams and social media, according to a digital security firm.
The big fight was also a big hit with illegal streamers.
Apparently, watching the Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor fight was a big draw on the illegal streaming circuit, too.
An estimated 2.9 million people on saw the undefeated boxing champion Mayweather beat McGregor, the UFC mixed martial arts champion, on 239 illegal streams on Saturday, according to digital security platform Irdeto .
«This is one of the most pirated, if not the most pirated boxing matches we have ever seen, » Mark Mulready, an Irdeto vice president of cyber services, said in a statement Monday. By comparison, there were about 200,000 viewers watching on about 19 pirated streams when boxer Anthony Joshua took the world heavyweight title from Wladimir Klitschko in April, Irdeto said.
While there were no official titles on the line, the Mayweather-McGregor spectacle from Las Vegas on Saturday was viewed as a first of its kind for combat sports and seen as one of the biggest sporting events of the year. It had started as a war of words between the two men on social media that ultimately convinced Mayweather, who is undefeated, to return from retirement.
A screenshot of the Mayweather-McGregor fight that apparently aired illegally on Facebook.
Saturday’s fight was apparently seen without permission on various social media platforms including Facebook, YouTube, Twitch and Periscope, who appeared to be shutting down streams as they popped up on their respective sites. Other streams also popped up on more typical pirate-streaming websites and on illicit streaming devices that had ads appearing on e-commerce sites including Amazon, eBay and Alibaba.
The companies say they will take action if content violates their policies.
The illegal streaming of the fight costing that $100 for a watch on Showtime pay-per-view in the US, probably won’t hurt either fighter’s bank accounts. Mayweather and McGregor reportedly earned $100 million and $30 million, respectively, despite the fact that the fight ultimately didn’t sell out.
Showtime is owned by CBS, which also owns CNET. The network didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
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