MMA Junkie reports that Bellator 360’s debut on Thursday night received a viewer average of 487,000. Its debut featured a two hour block.
The first episode scored a 461,000 viewer average and the second episode of Bellator 360 running immediately after the first episode earned a higher average of 513,000 viewers. The one hour shows featured previous fights from the organization as a pre-cursor to its first season the network.
Payout Perspective:
In comparison, MMA Uncensored’s debut on Spike TV drew 567,000 viewers on Thursday, February 23,2012. Still, the ratings are much better than it ever received on MTV2. The shows were a nice prelude to the live action coming in a couple weeks. Notably, Bellator is sporting a new logo and name (Bellator MMA) for its debut on SpikeTV. We’ll see how it does on Thursday nights.
Thats twice as good as the highest rated UFC program on FuelTV… let the games begin
@Sampson Simpson
Keep in mind Spike TV is seen in more homes than Fuel TV. The real test will be when the weekly events begin airing.
You cant compare Spike and Fuel, WTF? Spike is in 3 times as many homes as Fuel, that was also following TNA which does 1.5 mill viewers a week.
You compare Spike to FX not Fuel.
I compare the reach and ratings of both MMA brands… whatever channel they’re on.
How hard is that to comprehend?
@Sampson Simpson
Like I said the real test will be when the weekly events begin airing. Spike’s parent company owns a stake in Bellator so I’m sure they want them to be a success.
That’s better than most live ESPN Friday Night Fights and FOX Sports boxing events throughout the year. It’s almost as high as some SHOWTIME boxing events as well.
Like I said Sampson thats stupids, you dont compare UFC on Fox ratings to Bellator on MTV 2 ratings do you? Cause it would be pointless.
How is it pointless? You’re comparing the reach of a product dummy…
If Bellator reaches more viewers than UFC on FuelTV, that makes a difference in the consistent reach of the brand.
You’re retarded
no need to fight Chris & Sampson…ur both ret*rded…
Programming placement is extremely important when it comes to ratings; always has been.
Programming placement and overall reach of the channel.
FuelTV has no reach and won’t ever get it.
I didn’t even know it was on. I wonder how many people did? I’m going to have to program my DVR to start catching these.
Shamson being a moron as usual. Reach is worthless if the people never pay for the product at any point. Reach gives Bellator a chance to create paying customers but doesnt assure it. Fuel is more than likely watched by Hardcore paying customers. This gives the UFC a platform to sway those fans into buying events they may not have bought or might be on the fense. Fuel is pushing the UFC product to buying customers. To even compare the two, shows how stupid you are. They both are achieving two different things with no proof one is more of a benefit than the other.
If you want to talk about reach then the UFC is reaching more from their website than Bellator is on Spike. Also more than likely everyone watching Bellator is already been “reached” by the UFC. History has shown us just because they pay for the UFC doesnt mean they will ever pay for anyone else. As big as the hardcore fan base was and the UFC fan base Pride, Affliction, and all the other promotions couldnt never sell a PPV. So how effective is that “reach” now?
The UFC doesnt use Fuel for reach. They have Fox and FX for that. They use Fuel as a way to connect with the hardcore fan base. This is why they wanted their own network at one point. Not because they ever felt it would reach millions of people. But because it gave them a way to connect with their fans and fill the thirst for fights their fans have. The UFC has now with Fuel. IF Fuel grows into a network that can reach a ton of people that would just be a bonus. It wasnt what the UFC expected when they signed on to Fuel. What they got was half of their own network without all the red tape and hassle of starting one from scatch or taking over G4 and trying rebrand a technology channel into a sports channel. THe UFC getting on Fuel was 100 times better than the UFC network they had planned. Now they have Fox as a partner to push it. To try and spin it any other way just shows your closed minded, mouth breathing, short sighted view!
Do Bellator and UFC fans overlap at all?
I think it is reasonable to suppose there is significant overlap.
Bjorn Rebney is shooting himself in the foot with Eddie Alvarez from a PR perspective. Suing Alvarez might disgruntle enough MMA fans to curdle Bellator’s ratings. Alvarez is very popular with MMA fans.
I have already seen enough of how Bjorn Rebney treats fighters to dislike his style.
SpikeTV = Bellator Channel = 99 million households & 500k viewers minimum
Fueltv = UFC Channel = 26 million households & 100k average vie. wers
Both will showcase the same amount of MMA content
“Both will showcase the same amount of MMA content”
Source? Is Bellator footage essentially going to be the foundation of the channel’s content and be the dominant programming content? I’m not saying that if won’t but I’ve seen no evidence of this. What are you basing that comment on?
Have you looked at the Bellator forecast at all? Just go to the website.
They’re planning to show as much Bellator if not more than how much they showed the UFC on Spike a few years back. All damn day and night…
That’s great news. More exposure for MMA is a great thing in my view.
It is the boxing cycle playing out once again. We’ve seen what happened in the 50s,60s, 70s and 80s.
Popularity breeds fragmentation and eventual dilution amongst championships.
Just like boxing started with just the WBA, then the WBC. Eventually the IBF and WBO formed.
Had UFC not bought Strikeforce there would be 2 champions per division. Bellator would be the third “sanctioning body/promo org”. Instead now Bellator will be the second org that has it’s own set of recognized champions. The public will be confused and disillusioned in a decade.
Things take time and we’ve seen the end result in boxing.