MMA Junkie reports that Bellator 55’s ratings this past Saturday night received an average of 168,000 viewers on Saturday night. The numbers show a decrease from Bellator 54 which posted an 185,000 viewer average.
An immediate replay of the broadcast received a lowly 45,000 viewer average.
Via MMA Junkie:
Once again, the latest ratings continue the organization’s wildly inconsistent season-five numbers; two events have scored at least 235,000 viewers, and three have drawn 158,000 or fewer. Bellator 55 did go unopposed by the UFC and Strikeforce.
Payout Perspective:
Despite not going up against another MMA card, it seems that Bellator fell victim to College Football (which included several top teams playing at the same time as the broadcast), the World Series and HBO Boxing (including the first episode of Pacquiao-Marquez 24/7). The 168,000 viewer average is decent but one would think that it could have maintained, if not exceeded Bellator 54’s 185,000 average. Also, the replay numbers seemed unusually low.
Could this be an indication that a large portion of Bellator’s “typical audience” won’t tune in unless there’s nothing else appealing on?
I dont buy the competition excuse. There is always something on. They have drawn good numbers competing against everything at one point or another ans did poorly competing against everything too. It is a bad habit of blaming competition. If you have to hope it is the 1960’s with only 3 channels before anyone will give you the time of day then maybe you shouldnt be on tv?
The real problem here is Bellator and MTV 2. They can not reach their viewers consistantly and when they do it seems their viewers dont feel strongly enough about the product to tune in.
As someone who has been tuning in recently i can say from my point of view that Bellator isn’t “must see TV”. There is no way anyone who tunes in gets the impression you are seeing a quality product. I thought i would never see worse match making them i saw under Coker’s Strike Force. But Bellator takes the cake. The last 2 events i have seen have seen their champs beat in non title fights by no name guys(not technically no names but to mainstream they are).
Their 205 champ just got beat by Travis Wuif. That has to be the worst match up for their champ ever. Not only is it a bad match up but they went out of their way to make it. He wasnt event a contender. Their champs lose to guys they dont even build up. Then those guys go on to random tourny fights and look average at best. Bellator is just a bunch of random fights. They are not building anyone to look good. They should have 3or 4 guys in each division who is built larger than life and heads and shoulders above the other guys but instead all their fighters look the same. Their best guys are getting random fights that are bad styles and make them look bad even if they can win.
BSmash,
I understand your point. I think when you look at the ratings week by week its pretty erratic. There’s no way to explain why one week has great ratings and the next it declines. So, we look to other variables (i.e., what else is on). I think you bring up a legit point regarding its relationship with MTV2.
They will do much better on Spike imo. But i am just not sold on their model. There is little match maiking because they use the tournament format so often. This is clearly a limiting factor in building stars. Then when they have the match making in their hands for single fights they really embarrass themselves. Not only does the champ get smashed by someone new to the Promotion who hasn’t build properly introduced to their fans but it is a non title fight. The public isnt stupid and they feel they are getting their intelligence insulted. Are they getting duped into coming back for a rematch? Is the belt worth anything? Is their a point to this fight? Most people will assume that if the opponent isnt worthy of a title shot then it must be a crappy match up for they are trying to trick the fans.
At one time Brian Stann was on a 2-3 run with 2 decision wins and 3 losses. Nothing positive about any of the fights. Then through match making he won 3 fights with impressive highlight reel finishes vs name opponents and then he was a credible opponent for Chael to deserve a title shot. If Stann squeaks out those wins then he would not have gotten the Chael fight and if he did it would have done nothing for Chael.
Bellator only has 1 fighter who has any momentum and that is Hector Lombard. They simply cant build fighters. Now they have Travis Wiuff coming off a big win. Are they going to give him a few fights where he looks great and builds on this win? Nope, they are making him inter a tourny just to get a title shot at a guy he already beat. A tourny he will more than likely lose. Then they will be back to having zero guys in the weight class with credibility. That is the definition of shooting yourself in the foot.
Sorry for the rant. Just annoying to see Org after Org blowing opportunities.
By going to SPIKE TV in 2013 Bellator will have trouble in secoring new fans.The ratings on MTV2 are small with little growth.Bellator will have to sign some big names in order to pop a huge rating.TNA IMPACT wrestling is the highest rated show on SPIKE TV with about 1.5 million weekly viewers.SPIKE TV would be better served in selling back the UFC library in order to air Bellator in 2012,2013 maybe to late.