Bellator sees a huge ratings bump in Spike debut

[steelcityroller]

The event pulled in an average of 938,000 viewers and peaked between 1.1 and 1.2 million viewers. These numbers are far better than what the UFC has been pulling on Fuel and comparable to what the UFC has been doing on FX events. It is a big deal for Bellator and Spike execs are said to be absolutely thrilled about the ratings.

http://www.mmajunkie.com/news/2013/0...tastic-numbers

[macattack]

imo it is awesome for mma as a whole.

[Labgrownmangoat]

imo it is awesome for mma as a whole.

I agree with this. More exposure is better. The more fights people can see for free, the more likely they are to get into the sport. The more they get into the sport, the more likey they are to buy a PPV or a ticket in the future.

[Knockturnal]

We'll see how the numbers do tonight, they have Lawal and Askren on the card. One is on TNA (I don't know the extent of his involvement) and likes to talk trash, while the other one makes no excuses for using his wrestling to win fights.

Another thing to keep an eye on, Bellator's rating went down as the card progressed. So while they got record setting numbers, it's not a good thing to lose your audience the closer you get to the ME. It usually goes the other way.

[steelcityroller]

We'll see how the numbers do tonight, they have Lawal and Askren on the card. One is on TNA (I don't know the extent of his involvement) and likes to talk trash, while the other one makes no excuses for using his wrestling to win fights.

Another thing to keep an eye on, Bellator's rating went down as the card progressed. So while they got record setting numbers, it's not a good thing to lose your audience the closer you get to the ME. It usually goes the other way.

Yes tonight will be a big indicator as you will see how many fans they retained from last week and if people will tune in to see what "should" be a much worse card at least on paper.

I'm expecting the ratings to be significantly less with both of those things in consideration plus what you mentioned at the ratings starting high and slowly going down throughout the broadcast. If they can pull anything around 750,000 viewers on a consistent basis that is a good start for Bellator and several times higher than what they were getting on MTV2.

But I am gonna guess that they do around 600,000 viewers tonight.

[zn23]

I have no desire to ever watch Ben Askren fight again.. No talent at all. Put him in the UFC, and I can named 8-10 fighters that can wipe this guy out.

[steelcityroller]

Ben Askren makes Jon Fitch look like Jason Statham

[yanks19791024]

im willing to bet that these numbers will fall and fall 50% or more. The next event on thur will do no more then 300k JMO...

[yanks19791024]

Ben Askren makes Jon Fitch look like Jason Statham

He wasnt that bad, he got the finish. His stand-up is brutal. King Mo getting feed a scrub and then acting like he is going to pro boxing was the biggest laugh I had.

[Knockturnal]

He wasnt that bad, he got the finish. His stand-up is brutal. King Mo getting feed a scrub and then acting like he is going to pro boxing was the biggest laugh I had.

I agree about Askren. As much as he likes to LnP, he was a lot more active on this fight. However, by the end of the 3rd, when he had full mount, he looked really tired. Fighters like GSP, Fitch, Ellenberger, Rory, Condit, Hendricks, Silva etc would tool him.

As for Lawal. He fought a can and did what Bellator expected him to do. Not much else to say.

[steelcityroller]

Well looking at that bracket King Mo pretty much as to fight the Klitschko brothers from here on out....

[Knockturnal]

Bellator's rating down to 812,000 and .3 in the key demo (18-49)

Source

Another bittersweet week for Bellator. The ratings are great if you compare them to what they were getting on MTV2, but the numbers are down from last week and their strategy of having TNA as their lead-in is not working so far. TNA did a 1.5M last night, which means half the audience didn't stick around.

I expect next weeks number to drop, but if they can average anything over 600k for the season, I think Bellator will be happy. But if they drop below 500k, I think Bellator/Spike will have to rethink their strategy.

[steelcityroller]

Bellator's rating down to 812,000 and .3 in the key demo (18-49)

Source

Another bittersweet week for Bellator. The ratings are great if you compare them to what they were getting on MTV2, but the numbers are down from last week and their strategy of having TNA as their lead-in is not working so far. TNA did a 1.5M last night, which means half the audience didn't stick around.

I expect next weeks number to drop, but if they can average anything over 600k for the season, I think Bellator will be happy. But if they drop below 500k, I think Bellator/Spike will have to rethink their strategy.

I thought they would be much lower.... Its something to just keep an eye on really but Bellator doesn't have enough fighters that can draw interest to keep these fans.

It will be real interesting to see how their version of TUF does on Spike as well.

[steelcityroller]

im willing to bet that these numbers will fall and fall 50% or more. The next event on thur will do no more then 300k JMO...

Not a chance they fall that low. They were pulling in the 200,000-300,000 range on MTV2. But the 500,000-600,000 range is probably a realistic expectation.

Bellator's rating down to 812,000 and .3 in the key demo (18-49)

Source

Another bittersweet week for Bellator. The ratings are great if you compare them to what they were getting on MTV2, but the numbers are down from last week and their strategy of having TNA as their lead-in is not working so far. TNA did a 1.5M last night, which means half the audience didn't stick around.

I expect next weeks number to drop, but if they can average anything over 600k for the season, I think Bellator will be happy. But if they drop below 500k, I think Bellator/Spike will have to rethink their strategy.

This article says they officially got a .7 in that demographic.

http://www.fightline.com/fl/wire/201...re72626/47250/

[yanks19791024]

Im willing to bet tonights card does not do over 300k...