Bellator 197 Ratings: 242k viewers

[Bubba32]

Maybe this will finally be a wake up call to try something different with how they use the roster and number of events.

Simply put, fans aren't tuning in just because its MMA anymore. They're educated and cherry pick events more than ever. This is also true for the UFC.

I think it's too late for bellator to restructure or regroup.

 

[lsa]

Maybe this will finally be a wake up call to try something different with how they use the roster and number of events.

Simply put, fans aren't tuning in just because its MMA anymore. They're educated and cherry pick events more than ever. This is also true for the UFC.

Is that why Kimbo vs Dada Ken vs Gracie and Brock Lesnar are among the biggest draws in mma? (I know hyperbole)
The biggest draws for Bellator has been the "freak fights". I would not call that fans being more educated.
Look at the UFC which ones are the biggest draws? Brock, a none fighting Conor.
MMA today is no longer about the sport, its about the entertainment part. Fans is dumber more than ever.

 

[GueseGuy]

I keep seeing people point to the wrong things when trying to justify these ratings. Bellator has a good roster. They have big names. They have names that could appeal to people. The roster isn’t the problem. They just don’t know how to promote things right in 2018. The social media is garbage, the content they do put out is garbage, they tape delay shows, pushing boring fighters. I mean what do you really expect? The key to 2018 is INNOVATION. Your content needs to be accessible to every viewer easily and I feel that Bellator just doesn’t do a good enough job of optimizing their reach towards the fans. The things they do put out towards the fans are boring and almost 2009 Strikeforce-ish. It’s too bad because they’ve signed a ton of good young fighters but I just don’t know how long they can sustain their current business model. Marketing needs a total overhaul.

 

[skylolow]

Is that why Kimbo vs Dada Ken vs Gracie and Brock Lesnar are among the biggest draws in mma? (I know hyperbole)
The biggest draws for Bellator has been the "freak fights". I would not call that fans being more educated.
Look at the UFC which ones are the biggest draws? Brock, a none fighting Conor.
MMA today is no longer about the sport, its about the entertainment part. Fans is dumber more than ever.

Freak shows will always sell in every sport.

Look at Conor vs Mayweather..........One of if not the biggest boxing event ever depending on who you believe. Either way top 3 biggest ever. It doesn't diminish boxing or its fans. It just draws in the nobodies and the same thing happens in MMA. Look at minor league attendance games when Jordan was dicking around. It has nothing to do with the education of the fans. Educated fans of any of these sports understand that Conor wasn't going to out box Floyd and Jordan wasn't going to be Mickey Mantle. It's doesn't diminish the fans intelligence of the sport.

Problem is with both the UFC and Bellator is fans are getting enough MMA to fill their needs. Neither promotion now days can get away with weak cards and still sell well (ie: UFC in 2010 or so). Fans know what they are about to watch and they know the fighters more than ever. You see this much more on the UFC side. There is a reason why PPV numbers are down into 100K to 200K area for some of the PPV events. Those are numbers they would see in 2003. It isn't that the fights are bad or low quality MMA. It's that fans aren't paying money to see mid level to upper-mid level fighters the sport has to offer. They want to see the top 10 guys or in other words the top guys of the sport if they are paying for it or taking time out of their day at this point in the sport. We aren't going to tune into a B level NFL league like we are the NFL. As fans you know your not seeing the top of the sport compete so if your already getting your fix its easy to pass up on events or in Bellator's and at times the UFC you tune into the last 30 mins.

 

[007]

Sad

 

[Buffmeister]

I don't really care about numbers (ratings...PPV sales)...

But that is some brutal shit...!!

They absolutley should re-think their marketing stuff...
Just look at their schedule for their GP...



Bjorn had a good product and schedule...every week...that is easy to remember!
Bellator ain't the UFC...where the name alone sells...

 

[InfinityLens]

Maybe this will finally be a wake up call to try something different with how they use the roster and number of events.

Freak shows were their strength until Kimbo v DD5K scared them off. Hopefully this will scare them off the current path of UFC Lite w/ garbage matchmaking

 

[null]

They got better numbers when there was a card every week. Consistency. Now they lowered the number of cards but the cards aren't any more stacked. What was the purpose of doing that? I used to watch Bellator because I knew it was on every week. Now I miss every other event because I have to research when it is on.

LOL at being so helpless that you can't program a DVR or check a tv calendar here on Sherdog and figure out when the cards are scheduled. Take some personal responsibility for crying out loud.

 

[blaseblah]

LOL at being so helpless that you can't program a DVR or check a tv calendar here on Sherdog and figure out when the cards are scheduled. Take some personal responsibility for crying out loud.

An attitude like this is why their ratings suck

 

[null]

An attitude like this is why their ratings suck

On the contrary, I DVR and watch every Bellator card, so my views are always counted among their ratings. It's the helpless schmucks with over ten thousand posts on an MMA forum who are too lazy to set their DVR or too indifferent to check the fight calendar on the same message board that they are addicted to in order to figure out when the fights are on that make Bellator's ratings suck.

 

[VulcanNervPinch]

Calling 403 242 is some seriously creative math

 

[skylolow]

Freak shows were their strength until Kimbo v DD5K scared them off. Hopefully this will scare them off the current path of UFC Lite w/ garbage matchmaking

I know the freak shows draw fans in but I wasn't fan of that either. It's kind of cheap pop and hard to build off and the ratings showed that directly after it.

I just think its time to reorganize the events and how they you use the roster they have. Peak ratings have shown they have fighters that draw good by Bellator standards. But all to often we get event and after event that gives us very little to get excited about and if die hard fans aren't interested avg. joe isn't tuning in. They need to have a good 10 events a year designed around giving fans the best and biggest draw power of their roster up and down the card. Then fill out the rest of the year with 8 or so events that are more like the typical show we've been getting. Maybe even call those shows something else like Bellator challenger series or whatever.

 

[InfinityLens]

I know the freak shows draw fans in but I wasn't fan of that either. It's kind of cheap pop and hard to build off and the ratings showed that directly after it.

I just think its time to reorganize the events and how they you use the roster they have. Peak ratings have shown they have fighters that draw good by Bellator standards. But all to often we get event and after event that gives us very little to get excited about and if die hard fans aren't interested avg. joe isn't tuning in. They need to have a good 10 events a year designed around giving fans the best and biggest draw power of their roster up and down the card. Then fill out the rest of the year with 8 or so events that are more like the typical show we've been getting. Maybe even call those shows something else like Bellator challenger series or whatever.

The show immediately after usually popped good numbers as well. I would say do 4 tentpoles a year (1 every 3 months) and than make the smaller shows in between get better (ie the best smaller show of a in between tentpole period will be the best smaller show of that period) this way they are constantly building momentum.

 

[method115]

Calling 403 242 is some seriously creative math

It's really not. Combining the ratings from two different networks doesn't really matter in terms of the effect this will have on advertisers and overall business for Bellator. Do you think an advertiser gives a shit if your pulling 402k ratings over two different channels? All they care about is how big the ratings are on the channel they are paying to be advertised on. Unless Paramount lets you but advertising for both channels during a Bellator event.

 

[VulcanNervPinch]

It's really not. Combining the ratings from two different networks doesn't really matter in terms of the effect this will have on advertisers and overall business for Bellator. Do you think an advertiser gives a shit if your pulling 402k ratings over two different channels? All they care about is how big the ratings are on the channel they are paying to be advertised on. Unless Paramount lets you but advertising for both channels during a Bellator event.

• In terms of how popular the product is (which is very important), what matters is the total eyeballs on your product, 403 (not counting untrackable methods). The thread topic doesn't say anything about advertisers and it comes off pretty clearly as trying to pretend that only 242 people are watching.
  
• In terms of advertiser dollars - the screen doesn't just fade to black on CMT during the times that Paramount is showing ads. If the same ads are being shown on both, the advertisers don't care what channel someone is seeing their ad on, just how many people see it. If they've got 2 different sets of paying advertisers, then they're pulling in revenue from 2 sources.
  • If the Paramount advertisers are paying proportional to the viewership, no harm, no foul.
  • If they're paying a flat rate, they may be unhappy about the dip on 'their' channel, but Bellator knew that would happen and did it anyway, obviously with something in mind - short term profit from double-dipping, a short term viewership experiment, or whatever.

 

[lorenzofertatta]

I get the feeling the overall mma interest is the lowest in decades. I honestly can't remember the last time I heard someone talk about fighting... Perhaps the Conor - mayweather fight? Hell even the pro's I used to roll with doesn't give two shits about ufc anymore.. Not saying it's dying ...it's just kinda meh right now .

 

[Frank23]

Scott Coker is not a good promoter.

 

[Frank23]

#bringbackbjorn