The complicated sports streaming landscape just upped its game.
Today, Paramount, which just closed its merger with Skydance Media, entered the octagon with TKO Group Holdings in a deal that makes Paramount the exclusive home of all UFC events in the U.S. The partnership, which begins in 2026, has an average annual value of $1.1 billion (over seven years, that’s around $7.7 billion). Paramount will also “move away” from UFC’s pay-per-view model, making the events available for no additional cost to Paramount+ subscribers.
The deal also means that ESPN is out of the UFC game, with its partnership with UFC set to expire at the end of 2025. However, ESPN has also been busy with sports rights, recently announcing new partnerships with WWE and the NFL for NFL Network assets.
Plus—not to be outdone—on the same day Paramount announced its UFC deal, ESPN announced its upcoming streamer, named ESPN, was bundling with Fox’s upcoming streamer, Fox One, letting consumers purchase both streamers for $39.99 per month, starting Oct. 2.
So why is this all happening?
According to Mike Proulx, vp, research director, Forrester, the next battle for streaming is for sports rights as publishers seek advertiser-friendly and highly-engaging programming: “It’s sort of a land grab right now,” he recently told ADWEEK.
But in a complex streaming environment, there’s more than one way to come out on top.
Locking up the right sports rights
Jeremy Goldman, senior director, eMarketer, called Paramount’s deal a “win-win” for Skydance and the UFC.
“For Skydance, it secures a ‘unicorn’ rights package in an era when top-tier sports deals are scarce, with Formula 1 likely bound for Apple and MLB locked until 2028,” Goldman said. “Year-round fights offer a churn-resistant subscription hook that NFL, NBA, and MLB can’t match, while CBS simulcasts keep linear relevant with younger viewers.”
The deal also brings a significant amount of new inventory to Paramount, with approximately 43 live UFC events annually, delivering more than 350 hours of live event content. It’s a benefit ESPN is also getting with its new WWE deal.
Ahead of its streamer launch, ESPN and WWE reached a five-year and more than $1.6 billion agreement that gives it exclusive rights to many WWE events, including WrestleMania and SummerSlam.