MMA Junkie reports that Bellator 61 ratings for this past Friday almost hit a record low with an average of just 108,000 viewers. The ratings reflect the impact of March Madness added to the jammed MMA lineup on Fridays.
The 108,000 viewership average is the second lowest for Bellator on MTV2. Bellator 53 in October 2011 received just 103,000 viewers.
Bellator 60: 169,000 viewers
Bellator 61: 108,000
Payout Perspective:
Obviously the first weekend of the NCAA tournament did damage to the ratings of all MMA programming Friday night as this past week/weekend is one of the most watched sporting events of the year. One would have to hope that Bellator should bounce back after the tournament ends.
One positive Bellator can takeaway from Friday night’s show was the highlight flying knee from Brian Rogers. The YouTube clip of it has garnered 312,302 views as of this writing which engulfs the number of actual viewers of the card. This bodes well for Rogers and for Bellator to promote him in his next fight.
The NCAA has to be the reason for the low ratings. It wasnt just Bellator. Bellator lost 60,000 viewers this week from last. Spike TV with their counter programming of TUF reruns lost 300,000 this week. TUF Live lost 200,000 this week and all the shows were basically at the time time. So there was 600,000 less people watching this week than last week. Then when you look at the ratings listings you see a half dozen NCAA shows on varying channels and all were getting TUF like Adult Male ratings. Hard not to point the finger at the Tournament.
bealltor: y u no have viewers?
seriously tho that pretty bad figures.
While diehards like me will watch Bellator, there is little name recognition outside of a few fighters to the more casual fan, even mid-level UFC fans. I tape it and watch it, usually on the treadmill, so I do not get included in the live+SD numbers.
It is a trade-off, the tournament style has pluses and minuses to it. We will have to see if they continue it. The fights are either very exciting or quite dreadful to watch, depends on the match-up. Also, the match-ups appear to be lopsided sometimes.
I wish them luck going forward but it seems clear they need to move off of Friday night. With the corporate backing now, they could afford smaller crowds (and lack of casino money) in an effort to build the brand.
forget bellator..
where’s your story on the declining TUF ratings?
down 17 per cent in week two..
down 27% in m18-34 and m18-49.
that’s the real story.
Mr. Carter:
Should be soon!
It is troubling that Bellator finds itself in this position despite putting on generally enjoyable shows. That number is actually some 35% lower than MTV2’s primetime average and, more disturbing, 20% lower than MTV2’s day average (basically the average of every program from 6 AM to Midnight). A sharp contrast from 2011 when Bellator, along with three other strong programs, piloted MTV2 to its highest rated Q2. At that point Bellator was doing %14 higher than previous programming occupying the same Saturday slot; in the fall season of 2011 they approximately even with the previous years programming in the same slot. On Friday, I seem to remember that slot’s previous programming always hovering around 170k viewers,
Bellator has never establish its brand or fanbase among MMA fans.Every year the show moves to a different night.Bellator doesn’t have a strong sports lead-in on MTV2.Nor do they have a strong line-up of name fighters to keep fans glued to the product.When Bellator switchs to SPIKE TV in 2013 I don’t see any huge ratings increase.SPIKETV doesn’t have the programming to lend Bellator huge numbers.Unless TNA wrestling is going to be shown before Bellator there is no way Bellator will get huge numbers.