Bellator 165 drew 597,000 viewers on Spike TV Friday night. The main event featured Michael Chandler versus Benson Henderson for Chandler’s lightweight title.
Chandler won via decision. The event went up against UFC Fight Night 100 which aired at about the same time on FS1. The Bellator event aired from 9p-12:08am ET on Spike TV. Per Sports TV Ratings, it drew 307,000 viewers in the adult 18-49 demo.
Payout Perspective:
The event did fairly well against UFC on the same night. The UFC event from Brazil drew 769,000. According to sources, the Bellator event should pick up some DVR viewers when those numbers are announced. It was the second straight event in which a Bellator event has increase over the prior event.
You generally do bigger ratings on Saturday Nights than Friday nights, Bellator had to go up against The UFC, College Football & the Boxing PPV, decent number but they should have maybe waited until a free day or one with only one UFC event (If they can’t find one with out a UFC event) and a big Boxing PPV, College Football is going to be on regardless during this time of year.
Ufc is now on just about every weekend. They should have stuck with Friday night’s. Thought switching between Friday’s and Saturdays is a bad idea.
Etops – I agree. It’s confusing for viewers, and they chose a very crowded night – 2 UFC cards and a boxing PPV.
Yes I dont know why they decided on a saturday….but Bellator should definitely stick to friday nights where it has little competition. Well done on good numbers considering. Good comments from Cutch, Etops, and Diego.