MMA Payout has learned from a Nielsen source that the Live + 3 day viewership of Saturday’s Bellator 131 peaked with 2,246,000 viewers and was over 2 million viewers for more than half of the Ortiz-Bonnar main event. The overall event adjusted viewership came up to 1.4 million.
In addition, the Ortiz-Bonnar fight drew an average of 2.0 million viewers with the adjusted viewership numbers and was over 2 million for 17 of 26 minutes during the fight. It scored 1.8 million viewers in the M18-49 demo and 1.7 million in the M18-34 demo.
Payout Perspective:
The additional DVR numbers propels Bellator 131 further and reflects the fact it resoundingly beat the UFC on Saturday night. The numbers show that viewers are still drawn to the spectacle of a well-promoted fight and/or Tito Ortiz. Good news for Bellator in the short term. We shall see how they continue with the promotion of events when Ortiz is not in the main event.
Thats a lo of darn people. when was the last time the UFC did 2.2 million peak on basic cable? These were also above average fighters fighting.
Somehow, Tito is still a draw. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, but a Rampage v Tito fight could probably do 2.5M. Which is crazy.
this proves that the UFC’s method doesn’t necessarily work. Actually their method is proven not to sustain any strong fan base for amy real length of time.
This proves Sal is a wheelchair bound geriatric.
Sal,
Not sure where you’re getting your “proof” from or what “method” you’re talking about. WWE has been around a long time sourcing revenue with a mix of TV & PPV. So have HBO & Showtime boxing.
Oh really?? you cant figure out the UFC method? You dont remember Dana spewing his bullshit back in the day how the UFC will be nothing like boxing, how they will deliver only the best fighting the best, how they wont let fighters pick fights, how they will give the fans what they want regardless. This method looks good on paper but form a business stand point it doesn’t work for long. Fighters don’t get developed properly, Champions don’t last, top name fighters don’t last. fans loose interest fast. Fighters dont make real money. Obviously there a few exceptions to the rule. I can count them on one hand from the last 10 years. The UFC made every mistake you can make as far as developing the sport, from a business stand point, at the end of the day its all about money. Throwing half a billion to jump start the UFC has been a disaster. They bought all the competition and now Bellator is at their heels.
So I’m curious, what exactly is the method they should have been following? What should they have done differently all this time? Not have the best fight the best? Have chumps fighting chumps? The best fighting chumps? Not give the fans the fights they want? Please elaborate.
I’m very happy for Bellator’s performance on this one particular night, but let’s not get carried away. The Bellator PPV did not do well. And Bellator ratings are not blowing the doors off at Spike. They had a great night – actually probably just good, not great – but that does not a successful promotion make.
The UFCs financial troubles are independent of Bellator’s performance. It’s something Zuffa is going to have to figure out, probably by selling off their damn gyms (no idea why they are even in that business, what’s next, UFC sports bars?), scaling back their PPVs and pushing for more programming on Fox and FX.