MMA Weekly reports that ratings for Bellator 39 Saturday were slightly up to 174,000 viewers. The increase in ratings stops a streak of declining MTV2 ratings for the organization.
Via MMA Weekly:
Bellator 39 drew an initial audience of 174,000, with 89,000 more tuning in to the replay. While that is a little lower than the premier, it represents a slight uptick over last week’s Bellator 38, which drew 150,000 viewers initially, and 90,000 with the repeat performance.
Payout Perspective:
A good performance for Bellator going up against the Final Four games. The Alvarez/Curran fight probably helped with the increase as did the fact that it did not run opposite UFC programming. We’ll see how it can keep the momentum going as it goes up against Strikeforce Saturday night.
Those ratings are garbage. An Eddie Alvarez main event should draw better than that Final Four or no Final Four. SF Challengers beat them, just like M-1 beat them the week before. There’s just no excuse for such a poor showing. I’ve given them the benefit of the doubt in the past and I’ve been keeping my fingers crossed but at this point it doesn’t seem that they’re even getting the hardcore fans to tune in, in which case they are not long for this world.
If I’m Eddie Alvarez I’m starting to look at my options. He’s way too talented to be wasting his time with shows that draw small crowds and low ratings. It just doesn’t seem like Bellator is getting any traction.
This is definitely discouraging, as Alvarez was thought to be one of their two “big names.” (along with Lombard) I just think that there is a limit to how well Bellator can perform on MTV2, which is apparently around 150,000-200,000 viewers (Bellator 36 being the only exception). It is telling that an M-1 Global show was able to pull in better ratings on Showtime, perhaps showing that people have been far more conditioned to look to Showtime for MMA than MTV2. If a title fight featuring arguably the most talented fighter on their roster is not enough to draw, what will be?
This seems like a minor issue to me, but I’ve noticed A LOT of comments about the poor visual quality of Bellator broadcasts on MTV2 (which reminds me of their fights on FSN/CSN), which makes the promotion look bush-league. Say what you will about Showtime’s MMA broadcast (I know I have), but at least they LOOK polished.
I really hope they can turn it around somehow. The promotion puts on enjoyable events, and add a running storyline for MMA media outlets since they are the only non-Zuffa MMA property with a high-profile TV deal.
Diego,
I would be thinking that too if I were Eddie, but unfortunately he has a contract to honor with a possible champion’s clause, so he is most likely stuck with Bellator for now. It will be very interesting to see who Bellator can find to fight him while the lightweight tournament plays out, unless his next fight will be the tournament winner (unlikely considering the timing, I know Alvarez does not want another long layoff). It would be unfortunate if legitimate up and coming talent saw Eddie’s situation as a reason to forgo Bellator entirely, but it’s possible. No one wants to sit on the shelf during their athletic prime.
Machiel,
I agree about the visuals. They’re terrible. Even accounting for the fact that I don’t get MTV2 in HD, it’s like they filmed it on VHS and then went back and digitized it to put it on TV. I get the Balckbelt Channel, which shows old (old) MMA shows from the no weight classes and no time limit days and the quality is only slightly worse than what I get with Bellator. That’s not a dealbreaker for me, but it can’t help bring in young fans on MTV who expect everything to be polished with smooth cut-aways and cool video clips every few seconds.
It looks like Bellator needs to add the replay numbers to the first showing ala Strikeforce and hide the true success of the show, stopping the negative comments. LMAO!!!! Maybe even take it a step further and show it 2 times per day each day of the week. Then they can say “Last weeks show had 1 million viewers”. Then fans think you are doing great up until the point you sell out to the UFC. hahaha
I watched the show on Sportsnet. I thought it was a very good card. Bellator has never seem to gain traction but they are fighting an uphill battle. I just hope they keep it going as it’s always nice to see other Orgs competing.
You people need to take a look at MTV 2’s ratings for all their programming especially that time slot before they started airing Bellator to put things in perspective.
The ratings aren’t terrible, horrible or whatever other bad adjective you want to use.
MTV2 has a very young viewership and don’t have any programming that draws big numbers.
Bellators ratings aren’t bad all things considered.
They’re bad if you want to believe they’re bad but hey whatever makes you happy.
I mean if you seriously think the average sports fan or human being in general is more aware of Eddie Alvarez than the NCAA Final Four you might want to either get a reality check or lay off the heavy drugs.
It is very expensive to put on an MMA event. They need better ratings to get more advertising revenue to get more rights fees to offset their production and fighter costs. It’s not that I just assume they should be higher, it just comes down to the economics of running a fight promotion that relies heavily on revenue from a TV deal (it’s not like Bellator is making much at the gate). I agree that MTV2 has a limited reach, and have said from the beginning that it might not be the right deal for them. The problem is, what other networks are stepping up to the plate?
RJ,
They’re bad. Just because MTV2 doesn’t have anything better doesn’t make Bellator’s ratings less bad. Ultimately the ratings will determine how much money Bellator will get and how much money they get will determine how much they can pay their fighters. Viewership numbers also matter to athletes with sponsorship deals. If I pay to have my logo on Eddie Alvarez’ shirt, I’m not thrilled that no one saw him wearing it.
I don’t think average sports fans know Eddie Alvarez. But hardcore MMA fans do. And there’s more than 174K + 89K hardcore MMA fans in the US. That means, as I mentioned previously, that Bellator isn’t even pulling the hardcore fans. That’s bad. And whether or not Eddie is known to casual fans, he just happens to be the biggest name on their roster.
Eddie may be toeing the corporate line and saying how much he likes Bellator, but if they can’t get him top fighters to compete against, and fill up arenas and get big viewership numbers for his shows, he’s going to go elsewhere.
And no, it doesn’t make me happy that the ratings are bad. I was really hoping that they would grow from their season opener and instead they have been losing viewership. Maybe it was just because of the Final Four, but we’ll see what happens as they continue to go up against Strikeforce cards and UFC prelims.
Brain,
I still not sure that you get the concept of the revenue driven vs. subscription based network business models. But I’m not opening that can of worms yet again.
The fact that SF was bought by the UFC in no way indicates that SF was doing poorly. In fact it’s the opposite. If SF was about to fold, the UFC would not have bought it.