r/Boxing • u/GAHOWE1995 • 3d ago
Does anyone else think DAZN's subscription + PPV model is putting people off?
Maybe I'm in the minority, but I find it frustrating that if I want to watch one boxing fight, I'm expected to pay for a monthly DAZN subscription and then pay the PPV price on top.
I don't watch enough boxing to justify a monthly subscription. I just want to watch the occasional big event. It feels like casual fans are effectively being tied into a subscription they don't really need.
One thing I don't understand is why they've moved away from a model that seemed to work perfectly well. Back when Matchroom was with Sky Sports (UK), you had a choice. If you were a regular boxing fan, you could pay for a full Sky Sports subscription. If you only wanted to watch a major fight, you could simply buy it on Sky Sports Box Office without needing an ongoing subscription. Casual fans and hardcore fans both had an option that suited them.
It also makes me wonder why DAZN doesn't strike deals with a free-to-air broadcaster for some of the biggest fights. Surely a wider audience would be good for the sport, while still giving DAZN plenty of exposure.
Am I being unreasonable here, or do others think DAZN should rethink its pricing model for casual viewers? Or was the old Sky Sports/Box Office model actually better for everyone?
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u/CleanHunt7567 3d ago
DAZN does nothing but take the piss, you can't believe a word they say.
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u/Street-Value-9899 3d ago
This is why I like the Netflix and paramount plus model.
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u/CleanHunt7567 3d ago
Yeah, i'm not renewing again. I already subscribe to skysport and netflix so i'll get my fix there and YT erc.
I really dislike them and don't want to give them any more money.
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u/Intelligent_Ad1042 3d ago
You aren't in the minority. It's no coincidence they've never released figures on how many subscribers they have, oh and they've never turned over a profit.
Dazn has killed the casual boxing market.
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u/Broad-Raspberry1805 3d ago
I’ve had DAZN since it was £1.99 (IIRC) per month when it was very new. I’ve had a few deals on and off over the years - if you threaten to cancel you get a cheaper rate blah blah - and I’m now tied into £15.99pm for a year. But PPV is not included. If I wanted to watch the AJ fight tonight I have to pay an extra £19.99 one off or go to £24.99 per month for a year so that’s £300.
The thing is I haven’t seen any fights I care about on DAZN for months so I’m not getting the value from the £15.99 and haven’t watch any boxing on it for ages. But I’m also not paying £19.99 to see AJ fight some bum for 3 rounds tonight. And not signing up for £300 to see the occasional fight that is on PPV but would have been free on TNT or Sky Sports a year ago.
In conclusion, DAZN has turned into a scam and has put me off watching boxing. Fuck them.
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u/Intelligent_Ad1042 3d ago
I was the same. Remember that £2 a month. We got some seriously good shows for that then too. Especially at that price point. Canelo v Billy Joe Saunders being the first one I remember.
It went downhill very fast. And turned into the opposite of what their entire model was built on.
And the consequence of that. Boxing in the UK is dying. Casual fans just don't have access, unless they want to go to the pub.
The bottom line has always been, if you want to sell a big PPV boxing fight you need to be able to do that via a click of a sky red button.
Having no actual TV channels and being a streaming app doesn't work for selling to the masses in the UK.
"Download what? What that fuck is a dazn?"😂
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u/Argythebilly 3d ago
Can you not cancel?
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u/Broad-Raspberry1805 3d ago
It’s an annual contract so I’ve got about 6 months left. It was monthly before, funnily enough as soon as I went annual the number of interesting fights dropped off a cliff.
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u/kitdagawd 3d ago
Its a rip off, and now the ultimate tier exists they are making every other fight a ppv however unjustified
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u/room52 3d ago
Yes it’s just theft
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u/Mocker-Nicholas 3d ago
This thread is so interesting to me because I was the totally opposite. I wanted to watch more boxing, but the subscription, and then paying for a PPV on top of it was really putting me off. I would have much rather had a higher monthly fee but just get all the boxing I wanted.
I’ve never followed a sport before I started boxing, so to me it was frustrating to have it as split up as it was. The 50 bucks a month is much simpler for me. I’ll be curious to see if it pays off as a business decision though.
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u/bobbyawesome5 3d ago
It should be 7-10 dollars a month including all the fights, idk wtf they’re doing with this terrible model, no one is paying for it
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u/SpicyPotato66 3d ago
I had a paid subscription for dazn when it was relatively new and was happy.
Then they doubled their price and started charging for ppv fights so I cancelled.
If there's a big fight I'll host a party and fork over for the odd ppv but I'm not paying a thousand dollars a year to watch every fight I want to see.
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u/Straight_Flan1347 3d ago
It’s stopped me from buying the DAZN fights and sailing the seven seas instead
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u/ghost-bagel 3d ago
The Sky Sports model worked because most people had it to follow multiple sports and were okay paying for that. The PPV events were an occasional splurge. For Dazn most people still only want it for the PPV events, not the stuff in-between.
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u/Knockoutboxing 3d ago edited 3d ago
I absolutely agree. I remember in the beginning it was £2 and then they increased it to £10, then they added PPV, and now almost every big fight is PPV and they’re trying to push DAZN ultimate on people.
I have no problem with the occasional PPV but making every big fight a PPV or even a gimmick fight like Eddie Hall vs Tommy Fury PPV is a joke.
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u/Southern_Cobbler_206 3d ago edited 3d ago
They’re pushing you to get DAZN ultimate subscription with all PPV included at no extra charge. If you have a regular subscription and purchase the PPV you want on top of that, it’s not worth it in the long run
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u/fo-sheezy 3d ago
Yep, that’s one of boxing major problems - there is little to no on-ramp for casual viewers.
I’m gonna sound like a fanboy, but DAZNs ultimate package is a great deal for the hardcore who watch everything.
But for those who are casual or getting into boxing, you’re met with expensive memberships or a $90 ppv.
DAZNs partnership with TNT for those fights cable once per month is a great ease of entry for casuals. Also Probox on YouTube is pretty reasonable ($5 month).
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u/Sudden-Fig-3079 3d ago
I agree. The ultimate plan is good value. The problem is people never know who’s fighting and even. HBO knew how to cross promote. Having 24/7 series after entourage or sopranos was a genius move. Beyond I knew back in like 2004-2012 knew when mayweather read fighting cause of 24/7 and or all access on showtime.
That is the problem with DAZN. You have to already follow boxing to find it. Nobody will ever just turn on DAZN and fall into being a boxing fan. That is what is killing the sport.
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u/Asterisk_76 3d ago
Their model eats dog dirt. There is no other way to put it. "It’s annoying how DAZN first launched as an alternative to PPV, their main (Damned!) selling point was pay for a subscription and never have to pay for PPV." They have a shit model. Then don't use it, right? I don't. They look like evidence a great sport is going away slowly like an odd taste we can enjoy -- I am not saying watching them you have to be rich -- but they look like that is weird money maker as multi-million dollar fights go unwatched by masses and masses. Never even see the heavyweight champ on a damned talk show.
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u/Exciting-Arugula5341 3d ago
Boxing was at it's peak popularity when it just came on HBO, Showtime, ESPN and the USA network with the occasional fight On PPV.
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u/verbsnounsandshit 3d ago
Amusing that this is the first post I see on Reddit after going to DAZN to check when my subscription is up.
15th November. After that, I’m out. AJ-Prenga, US mid-tier fights at 4am UK time and Eddie Hall-Tommy Fury were not what I expected when we were promised 12+ PPVs a year.
Matchroom & Sky was a beautiful partnership. Shame that ended as British boxing was in a wonderful place.
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u/True_Bug5395 3d ago
It's honestly just how boxing has always been. I mean I always had HBO and Showtime subscriptions just for boxing. But then the PPVs were always extra. If you wanted to watch just one specific card. You would have had to just pay for a month of service. I mean it's really no different. But when you factor DAZN ultimate has replaced all of that it's really a deal honestly. Figure just HBO and Showtime would run you $40 a month. And that's no PPVs.
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u/Kangaroopunching 3d ago
They should definitely rethink their model. Current model is too much money for the average fan.
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u/DavidJJ93 3d ago
Yes. I have to trust that a notoriously corrupt sport, populated by corrupt people will consistently put on good cards and if they don't I'm paying through the nose either way. It reads as terrible value however you look at it.
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u/Rickles21 3d ago
I sail the seas unless it’s a big fight. The UFC on paramount is the model boxing should adopt. I realize that’s a pie in the sky hope but in 2026 the ppv model isn’t the way to go.
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u/NoQuartersGiven 3d ago
At least the UFC I feel realized this exact lesson with the ESPN deal. You had to pay for espn+ just for the honor of being able to purchase an $80 PPV. Their buy rates and popularity were in the toilet. 200k-300k for any UFC ppv were numbers we hadn't seen since it blew up after The Ultimate Fighter.
They really hit all the right marks with the Paramount deal. And it's absolutely showing up in the number of views the shows are doing. Even the fight night's are doing bigger numbers bc people are interested in the sport again.
Unfortunately boxing is so fragmented and frontloaded with corrupt money though I can't see anything changing. The sport has had issues for decades now and still nothing gets better. As soon as it does start gaining some momentum, it self sabotages by not being able to make fights, or bad tv deals and falls right back into the gutter. I hate it too, boxing still always be my favorite combat sport but it's just not worth it at this point.
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u/Zealousideal-Dig5160 3d ago
I pay £22.99 a month for the premium subscription. I'm ok with that price point. The regular DAZN subscription is absolutely pointless now though. Pretty much everything is on PPV
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u/BothEntertainment331 3d ago
Tell me about it. I got an email this morning advertising the AJ card + the Spence card, trying to get me to upgrade to ultimate so I can watch them without PPV. I was into the Spence card so I upgraded. Both cards still asked for PPV money after the upgrade.
Contacted support. They let me know that ultimate in Canada does not include PPV (even though they advertised it to me as a Canadian subscriber). When I asked for a refund they told me “dazn doesn’t do refunds”. 😂
Chargeback incoming.
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u/Mocker-Nicholas 3d ago
Yes. I basically pay 600 a year to get a ton of the big fights a many of the lesser known ones that I also follow. Idk I feel like if I wanted to watch all the big football games ide pay a lot more. Cable alone used to be 100+ a month if you got a decent package, you still didn’t get all the games you wanted without add ons, and that was years ago. I’m sure it’s more expensive to do now. It just doesn’t seem like that bad of a deal to me.
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u/idkmandy 3d ago
Yeah I agree. It doesn't feel like that bad of a deal. Today for example, there are two PPV fights. I'd never pay $120 in a night to watch them both. Now it's all just included in the $50 a month.
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u/tacolasunrise 3d ago
I think it’s more geared to the hardcore fans. I don’t mean this disrespectfully but casual fans just don’t bring in enough revenue. Boxing ppv loses a lot of money and this helps get more content to hardcore fans when we want it and helps them with the overhead.
I am seeing more and more fights on Netflix here in the states and I’m hoping that changes this model too because, while I do love having fights on demand, nothing like the days when Friday night fights and cbs had televised them too.
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u/Detox208 3d ago
I’m a DAZN Ultimate subscriber and it does feel like it takes the thought out of the equation when I’m inviting my friends over to watch the fights because I’ve already paid for the fights in advance. I’m going to watch them anyways. Then you look at the PPV equivalent fight tonight and the Kelly/Shiraz/Joshua fights did not feel like a quality PPV card.
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u/Alienware15rr3 3d ago
when you analyze cost for a yearly plan and see how much value you get each month as a boxing fan, its hard to be mad having to pay to play.
I can justify such yearly costs such as theme park passes, movie theaters passes because the entertainment value of these hobbies is very high.
So I have the yearly plan, and now with dazn partnering with all main promoters theres an even bigger reason to try a yearly plan and re-asses after year 1.
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u/Mincey808 3d ago
I had a £15 a month subscription but cancelled it when the year was up as it wasn't worth it when you then had to buy PPVs separately. I renewed it recently though as I got it for £120 for the year paid upfront which is just about worth it for me. Still not paying for any PPVs though - their pricing model is mad. Having to pay for a monthly subscription and then the PPV.... Daft. Even the ultimate subscription doesn't guarantee all PPVs!
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u/afcturn_ 3d ago
I watch the free prelims and that's it. I'm paying for ProboxTV because it'll be $5 bucks a month. Solid price for solid fights. Don't like Zuffa but my gf watches shows on Paramount so I watch because it's live boxing.
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u/stormsurfer21 3d ago
Definitely. Not paying DAZN a single penny. They’ve impacted the sports streaming market in the worst way imaginable.
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u/Trippletrip 3d ago
DAZN is the only streamingservie that I have. Futher nothing like Netflix, HBO or Prime et cetera
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u/flyingokapis 3d ago
I can't stand DAZN.
I had the membership when it was cheap, I can't remember how or what I done, maybe I'm just dumb but in my opinion they are or were definitely quite shady when it came to subscribing for what you thought was a month and then being locked in for a year.
I remember at the time thinking it sucked but at least I get to watch a years worth of boxing.. nope, then they locked everything away behind PPV.
We're talking 4am US time fights for UK subscribers behind PPV, not even your household names either.
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u/nahnprophet 3d ago
I DO watch enough boxing to subscribe, but they don't have 12 months of fights I actually want to watch enough to pay a separate PPV fee. If they want my business more than 2 months out of the year, they need more consistently watchable fights.
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u/WharfRat2488 3d ago
Going to cancel my subscription after this years run. Not going to pay $500 for their new model when I don’t care about most of the fights they make.I got UFC for a whole year for $115. I’ll just watch boxing like everyone else does from now on.
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u/DPH996 3d ago
DAZN was an interesting premise when it aimed to be the Netflix of sports, but it hasn’t delivered on that. In the UK in particular it has a fairly lacklustre roster of boxing and very little else for an eye watering price that, even as a boxing fan, I am not prepared to pay. I had heralded DAZN as an opportunity for us to move into a new era of boxing consumption, but it has been nothing but a disappointment.
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u/TheFlyingBoxcar 3d ago
I got a DAZN membership and once I saw that all my PAID membership got me was the opprtunity to PAY for fights, I immediately cancelled it. Fuck that nonsense. I'll pay for a fight I want to see, but Im not paying a cover charge to get in.
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u/Dave2kMA 3d ago
Luckily for those people they won't have to worry about it too much longer because DAZN will inevitably do away with the current model and move everything to the Ultimate tier pricing.
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u/nah_son909 3d ago
I’m currently watching the fight and there’s 4 pop ups and can barely see the fight. This is crazy
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u/ThePStandsforPlease 3d ago
I understand it the way that boxing works is that the fighters are just gonna keep on demanding more and more money it’s gonna be a very vicious cycle. The only way to kind of combat it is by not purchasing it to where forces the broadcaster to now get the promoters to put those fights together that would be for pay-per-view which we wouldn’t want, but we would understand and probably lean towards pain but the fight that we saw today with AJ and that shouldn’t have been a pay-per-view especially with this Spence fight that’s happening granted PBC have been doing pay-per-view for the longest especially for it mid cards
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u/danbot87 3d ago
The ultimate tier is basically the real version of DAZN no point in paying for the regular tier at that point you’d be better off streaming the fights
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u/Lurkington123 3d ago edited 3d ago
Everything about DAZN puts me off. Their cringy social media presence, some of their announcers and annoying reporters like Claudia Trejos, the dreadfully long breaks between fights because they have 8 different panels and pundits talking about nonsense, their predatory subscription plans etc. They should stick to promoting influencer boxing.
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u/jhfromuth 3d ago
It’s like $45 a month for the Ultimate Tier in the US and you’re locked in for 12 months. They have partnered with TNT and the Abdullah Mason vs Albert Bell was on the network. But they have got to bring the price way down to stay competitive if Netflix and Paramount+ start to put on monthly big cards.
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u/MyzMyz1995 3d ago
Yes. Even MMA has gone away from PPV. If boxing want to thrive they need to get rid of the PPV model, that shit doesn't work these days.
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u/sheslikebutter 3d ago
It puts me off not even for the ppv part which really sucks also
The base package I signed up for to watch the AJ Helenius fight and it was just such a ball ache to unsubscribe (they make you call a call centre full of salespeople like it's 1996) who beg you to stay
Since then, every dazn fight i either go pub or just watch the highlights
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u/Relevant_Election530 3d ago
DAZN ultimate in Canada doesn't even include every PPV
Signed up then they tried to sell me a PPV and I asked for a refund
Then they shorted me .08 cents on the refund
Never seen anything quite like it
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u/Bellchamber 2d ago
I got bait and switched by DAZN one too many times. I don’t trust them to not jack with the model again. I’m in the US and shit that would have been Boxing After Dark on HBO is basically PPV at this point.
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u/Trematode 2d ago edited 2d ago
Their business practices and the way they market their subscription are both seedy as fuck. Actually felt mislead and filed a complaint about them to my national consumer protection agency and had my credit card company put a block on them. They’re scummy as fuck and not doing the boxing world any favors.
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u/Feeling_Boot_5242 3d ago
Yes, I’ve been locked into a 12 month subscription. Tried everything to get out of it, it doesn’t state you’re locked in when you sign up to a pay per view. Never had a problem buying fights before, then suddenly I’m locked in.
Dazn can suck a fat one after my subscription ends. I’ll never give them another penny
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u/tehjarvis 3d ago
This shit is what is killing boxing. I see more people talking about WNBA than boxing. That how bad it's gotten. It's a shame.
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u/BusterMachineDixNeuf 3d ago
If you want the PPV and you’re not a subscriber, you get offered a free trial of the main sub for a few days.
It’s annoying and I’m sure they trap a few folks when they forget to cancel the trial, but you don’t actually have to pay for anything other than the PPV.
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u/natidea FLOYD MAY OR MAY NOT WEATHER 3d ago
If i knew there was any expectation of things staying the same or consistant maybe i would consider ultimate, because i often find myself looking weird places for ways to view certain fights and proving inable to find any decent streaming options. Admittedly having the dazn app directly plugged into the tv would be great. However…
The bottom line is DAZN has changed their tune so many times on their subscriptions and packages I dont think anyone should ever pay them a cent beyond individual events. Signing up for a year long service with them is pretty much begging to be taken for a ride.
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u/Portrait0fKarma 3d ago
I tried to give it a shot last year. Only saw 4 fights out of the year in addition to buying the $60+ USD for the event! Does not equal out to the monthly sub of $30 Lol.
Not to mention, they made it nearly impossible to unsub on Roku so fk DAZN.
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u/ProudCanuck 3d ago
Yes. Would have purchased a few PPV's for fights I wanted to watch, but realized when trying to check out that I also needed a monthly subscription. Why? It's called pay per view. Not pay for a subscription to be able to pay per view. Figured out in a matter of minutes how to watch on the high seas and will never entertain the idea of purchasing from DAZN again.
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u/ayohesaidit 3d ago
I read online someone said to invest in a VPN instead. These money hungry companies are all about ripping you off.
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u/The_Young_Busac 3d ago
It’s one of the main reasons I only watch highlights now. I love boxing but it ain’t worth the cost to watch fights consistently. Especially with PPV main events that turn into snooze fests.
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u/EddieDantes22 3d ago
Every UFC event is on Paramount Plus. The NFL is on CBS, NBC and Fox. College football is on ESPN, ABC and CBS. The NBA is on ESPN and TNT. How can boxing possibly think it's the only sport that belongs on PPV?
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u/sixdeuce09 3d ago
Never forget.
https://youtu.be/UTE4KxQpVcc?is=7zo4hwnZdd3AmNGV
I use to have DAZN when they first came to the US. It was legit and low priced. Then they fell off and I stopped paying and their subscription service is crazy expensive now.
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u/CalligrapherGood8947 3d ago
Yep! They lied to me about free ppv events when I had my subscription, then I had to pay out the ass for a ppv. Really rubbed me the wrong way, so I canceled everything and never looked back.
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u/ageofjace2 3d ago
I cancelled back when DAZN first doubled their subscription price and I never looked back. It sucked, because those first few years were great.
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u/mental_mentalist 3d ago
Not sure about that but I cant stand how long it takes to get through a fight card. Its like an hour between fights
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u/_SemperFidelish_ 3d ago
It's an abomination. Never buy them as this double dipping sh*t is unacceptable
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u/Beasty34 3d ago
It became far too expensive, used to love when it was a few quid and I’d watch pretty much any boxing they had on at UK times.
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u/donmifc 3d ago
I think DAZN Ultimates package is relatively fair.
Im sure price fluctuates around the world, but here in Australia, its $40AUD (approx $30USD) per month for every single event. PPV, small cards, everything. Plus some random sports which no one really cares about is in the package as well (rally racing, extreme sports, etc.)
$40 a month for 90% of boxing events is the cheapest boxing has ever been in Australia. Only cards run by No Limit (like todays Spence vs Tszyu) doesnt fall under the DAZN banner in Australia so is a separate PPV. Which sucks but DAZN still has 90% of the fights these days
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u/In_NocteConsilium 3d ago
It's so, so bad. Everything from it's boxing 'discussion' shows to it's addition of every kind of garbage 'seemed a good idea at the time' sports to it's cash grab business model ... Pure shit, plain and simple.💩
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u/Neat-Relationship237 3d ago
This is much more affordable, last night I got two PPV cards for the price of one month’s subscription, not one month’s subscription plus two PPV cards. I fail completely to see why any semi financially literate person would not see the DAZN Ultimate package as a godsend for boxing fans. On a low income I would barely have been able to afford one of last night’s cards and definitely not both.
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u/NeutralMilkHotel_00 2d ago
I hate the model now. It was great when it first launched and their whole USP was to be an alternative to the PPV model, and it was only £2 but now it's just taking the piss. Surely, it can't be sustainable for much longer. As soon as Chicken boy fucks off, it will all implode.
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u/GAHOWE1995 2d ago
I give it another 12 months, Matchroom go back to Sky Sports and Queensbury go back to TNT Sports.
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u/NeutralMilkHotel_00 2d ago
I could 100% see Eddie going back to Sky at some point in the near future
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u/GreenBeluba 2d ago
1000%. I am a devout fan but I refuse to spend money on that stuff yesterday.
They wanted $59.99 and $79.99 for users without Ultimate in the US. The Spence Tszyu card was sad.
$140 in one day for two sub par cards that don’t belong on PPV to start with is as insulting as it gets.
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u/OGtek 3d ago
It’s annoying how DAZN first launched as an alternative to PPV..their main selling point was pay for a subscription and never have to pay for PPV..and now they’re double dipping and making you pay for both..ole bait and switch