We have an update on the ratings from Bellator 153 last Friday night. According to Nielsen, the Benson Henderson’s promotional debut against Andrey Koreshkov drew 973,000 viewers peaking at over 1 million.
The fight, which aired between 10:13-11:00pm ET, on Spike TV Friday night drew 973,000 peaking with 1.1 million viewers at 10:57pm.
It should be noted that Bellator 153 saw a jump in viewership once the NBA Playoff game between the Pistons and Cavaliers ended. Per Nielsen, Bellator viewership on Spike TV jumped from 495,000 to 753,000 viewers.
Payout Perspective:
The Cleveland/Detroit game was the second-highest rated game of the night next to the San Antonio/Memphis game which preceded it on ESPN. While we probably should not draw a direct correlation between NBA viewers and Bellator viewers, it is interesting to note the spike of viewers tuning into Spike TV. Despite his loss, the 973,000 viewers and over 1 million peak viewership is good news for the debut of Benson Henderson and Bellator. It shows that the former UFC lightweight champ is still a draw.
much better news. good to see Bellator break the 1m viewer mark without the sideshows. Hopefully they get more guys from UFC and start displaying female fight talent and do more to break the White/Fertita hold on mma in the USA
What’s pathetic is that UFC has beens who weren’t even big draws beat PBC feature shows on Spike. Haha.
“Benson didn’t just lose he got beat up, poor numbers considering he’s supposed to be their main draw.”
Fight Fan’s words of wisdom. Hahaha.