Bellator 176 peaked with 688,000 viewers on Saturday afternoon on Spike TV per Nielsen. In addition, Bellator Kickboxing which aired after Bellator MMA on Spike TV drew 399,000 viewers.
Bellator Kickboxing aired immediately after Bellator MMA on Spike TV. The event aired from Torino, Italy. It peaked with 579,000 viewers.
Bellator MMA’s DVR+3 rating drew 496,000 viewers.
Payout Perspective:
Relatively speaking, good numbers for Bellator Kickboxing (rating includes DVR+3 rating) considering last September’s edition of Bellator Kickboxing drew 287,000. In April it drew 346,000 viewers. In June, it hit its peak of 418,000 viewers. The DVR numbers are slightly stronger for Bellator MMA as those who were out on Saturday afternoon recorded the event to watch later.
Kickboxing has failed to ingnite in the US regardless of the promotion. I don’t understand it. MMA and boxing both do much much better.
With that said, the arena in Italy had a lot of empty seats and Petrosyan was fighting. That’s not a good sign.
Other than Holland and France (due to Savate), where exactly in the West is kickboxing really that popular?