ONE Championship chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong revealed that ONE: A NEW ERA set record highs in viewership according to official data released by the leading global information and measurement company Nielsen.
In his official Facebook account, Sityodtong shared that ONE Championship's first ever event in Japan was a huge success as it lured 41.9 million viewers around the globe to witness the blockbuster card.
"I'm thrilled to announce that ONE: A New Era in Japan broke a new record viewership high for ONE Championship with 41.9m viewers from around the world,” Sidyodtong said.
“While it did not hit the target of 50m that my team and I had set out to achieve when we decided to throw this mega event in Tokyo, I am full of gratitude and appreciation to the greatest fans in the world."
The mega event was easily the biggest card that ONE has put up so far.
It was also a huge night for the Philippines with three Team Lakay athletes representing the Philippines.
In their much-awaited rematch, Eduard “The Landslide” Folayang lost his ONE Lightweight World Title via first-round submission to Japanese legend Shinya “Tobikan Judan” Aoki while Kevin “The Silencer” Belingon surrendered the ONE Bantamweight World Title after he suffered a disqualification loss to Bibiano “The Flash” Fernandes in their trilogy.
Despite losing two World Titles on the same night, the Philippines didn’t go home without a win as Danny "The King" Kingad moved to the semifinal round of the ONE Flyweight World Grand Prix after defeating Senzo Ikeda of Japan in their quarterfinal tournament bout.
For Sityodtong, ONE: A NEW ERA’s success is just the beginning as the surging global sports media property looks to continue to breach new heights moving forward.
“ONE Championship even trended #1 or #2 on Twitter in various countries such as US, Japan, Singapore, Australia, etc during that show. For perspective, our viewership averaged only 700k viewers per event in 2015,” Sidyodtong said.
“Our 3-year goal is to achieve an average of 100m viewers per event. It might sound crazy, but I work with the best team on the planet.”