Keller's Take
KELLER: Does WEC want more than hardcore MMA viewers? Then improve that opening two minutes
Jan 10, 2010 - 11:19:05 PM KELLER: Does WEC want more than hardcore MMA viewers? Then improve that opening two minutes

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WEC is not a ratings juggernaut on cable TV. You don't see them showing up in the top 25 cable shows on weeks when they air live specials. Yet MMA is a hot emerging sport. WEC has the benefit of UFC backing it and promoting it during its live specials and on its website. Sure, part of it is WEC features smaller fighters and it's a much-less known brand in general with lesser-known top fighters, yet they can be doing more to build their popularity.

One tool WEC has to fight this is to hook curious viewers out of the gate. They did a poor job of that tonight in the opening two minutes of the show. If you didn't know anything about any of the fighters on this show, two minutes into the WEC event tonight, you still didn't.

What that casual, curious, potential future hardcore fanatic got was an artsy, stylistic WEC standard opening for 30 seconds, followed by a collage of fighter images and generic narration about "title fights," "five rounds," "that's vicious," "this is gonna be good," etc. and quick glimpses of the dozen fighters on the card with their names under them and then a brief highlight shot of them landing a punch.

Then came the live introduction from ringside by Todd Harris who finally began focusing on the main event of Jamie Varner facing Ben Henderson to unify the LIghtweight Titles. It was more than two minutes into the show before anyone's personality was displayed or discussed, and that was Varner talking about potential ring rust. Then three minutes into the show, Frank Mir joined Harris and began analyzing the main event, at which point they talked about Varner not handling fan criticism well while Henderson has been the people's champion.

To capture ratings, which is a key to WEC's long-term ability to thrive and pay these fighters what they deserve, I'd flip a few things around.

The opening 15 seconds should establish what WEC is. Quickly set the stage for what WEC stands for, such as: "Tonight, live from Sacramento, World Extreme Cagefighting will once again show the world why it's regarded by fans of MMA as producing some of the best, most exciting fights between top caliber fighters." Then move into focusing on the top two fights, establishing the hooks for the fights.

By the 30 second mark, a viewer should know what Jamie Varner looks like and the fact that fans are likely going to boo him. Frank Mir, a recognized UFC fighter, should have a pre-recorded soundbite saying that Varner doesn't take fan criticism well. Then quickly move to showing Ben Henderson. Show a fight highlight or two as the announcer says that he's won over WEC fans with his fight performance and sportsmanship/charisma.

By 60 seconds, tout the second main event featuring Urijah Faber. Tout that he is trying to make a comeback after seeming unbeatable just a year or two ago. Show highlights of his fights while spotlighting what is so special about him as a fighter. Then move into the key thing he would accomplish with a win and what the ramifications are of a loss. Then show the image of the opponent who stands in the way of Faber working his way back into title contention, Raphael Assuncao.

Now, many of these things were hit by the four and five minute mark of the show, but in the less dynamic context of Harris and Mir standing and conversing. The production team should use that first two minutes to make those channel-flippers shopping around for a program at the top of the hour feel that this is an MMA show that they can't miss because now they know what's at stake, they know a little bit about the two fighters in each of the two main events, and it feels important and even urgent to them.

From there, they can tout the key selling points of the undercard, but stopping short of bombarding viewers with details that will wash out the key points made in selling the top two matches. I'd also pitch that the co-main event will be the second or third fight of the night, keeping viewers from tuning out for an hour with a sense of confidence that they'll see both of those big matches if they check back an hour later.

I want to see WEC succeed, but that opening two minutes was a lot of images with nothing about the fights or the fighters. I'm not pushing for them to embellish anything, as savvy viewers will see through that. But they should pick out the four or five key issues that the maintream casual curious viewer would find intriguing and push that throughout the evening. Not just in those opening two minutes, but weaved throughout the show between the prelim fights coming in and out of commercials. Build that anticipation rather than assuming everyone watching has already read their website and various MMA websites and watched all previous WEC shows and remembers every detail.

There are millions more people out there who are potential WEC fans, and each event is an opportunity to earn fans-for-life, but good fights alone only hook a certain percentage of fans. Driving home the personalities and history of rivalries is a key to attracting a whole other type of fan.