Coker comments on Bellator ratings downturn

Idk about yal but I'm just getting burnt out in general. Not enough to where I won't watch fights anymore, but I just don't feel the excitement that I used to feel. Where did the days of standing up on my seat sweating and being a nervous wreck go?

Thank uncle Dana for increasing amount of events pure year while watering down the overall product.They are spreading themselves thin and giving the consumer way too much to consume.It was better with less ppvs atleast when they happened it mattered more now almost every other PPV I don't really care to buy.

This is why mma numbers are suffering because with every passing event more and more people feel exactly like you do.
 
Thank uncle Dana for increasing amount of events pure year while watering down the overall product.They are spreading themselves thin and giving the consumer way too much to consume.It was better with less ppvs atleast when they happened it mattered more now almost every other PPV I don't really care to buy.

This is why mma numbers are suffering because with every passing event more and more people feel exactly like you do.
as much as I wish it wasn't true, I think you are right......
 
as much as I wish it wasn't true, I think you are right......

I used to buy every UFC ppv no matter what and I never regretted it for the most part because the cards were good and every fighter I knew and was vested in them.

Now I probly buy 4 out of every 10 they put out......im not paying 65 bucks for just whatever females and manlets are thrown on a card.
 
and he's run them into the ground...so what does that say about him as a promoter?

Coker's peak relied on Kimbo Slice. Once he died, so too did their ratings. That's why nowadays the only news we here about Bellator when it comes to ratings is about how bad they are.

Not on Kimbo, on freakshows in general. Kimbos death and DD5K's (sort of) death scared Coker off said freakshows which bring us today.

I hope they find a market in Europe and start doing more freakshows.
 
maybe if they focused on Visas and assisting fighters through them they wouldn't have so many promising international Ams shut down all over the goddemned place

I still want my frodo khasbulaev
 
I used to buy every UFC ppv no matter what and I never regretted it for the most part because the cards were good and every fighter I knew and was vested in them.

Now I probly buy 4 out of every 10 they put out......im not paying 65 bucks for just whatever females and manlets are thrown on a card.
Bro I feel you there. After 2014 I had/have my own place and I would invite people over at least 5-6 times a year to watch the fights. Generally I had no problem getting people to come over. Now, I rent 2-3 fights a year and have trouble getting a lot of people over. I also don't know if my friends are just tightwads or what but generally I end up paying over 50% of the costs. I purchased a firestick and TBH, I've had it since xmas and I've yet to invite anybody over and buy a ppv. I'm planning on having people over for the DC/Miocic card because that's the only one I think is worthy of it. I prefer the quality of ppv but firestick quality suffices most of the time. I think maybe I should stop watching every single fight and skip a few cards that I know will be dull.
 
Thank uncle Dana for increasing amount of events pure year while watering down the overall product.They are spreading themselves thin and giving the consumer way too much to consume.It was better with less ppvs atleast when they happened it mattered more now almost every other PPV I don't really care to buy.

This is why mma numbers are suffering because with every passing event more and more people feel exactly like you do.

I don't know how much I'd put it on Dana.

The media partners are who ask for the content and how much. The UFC doesn't just say we are giving you 29 events or whatever. Now the PPV's that is something Zuffa probably could've controlled better. Though once again the PPV distribution company maybe gave them a better split of the pie by guaranteeing a PPV every month. A lot of stuff goes on behind the scenes.

I think its part saturation but its also fans know what they want/watching today. There educated on the sport much better today than 2009. They get enough MMA that they aren't going out of there way to watch a questionable card on paper. The media outlets should also realize this and not ask for so many damn cards. But they got there own things to worry about.

Bellator ratings isn't so much a Bjorn vs Coker argument as its a Bjorn vs Coker cost vs ratings argument and that is where bean counters have to be scratching there heads. How does a card that cost Viacom 20% of what a Coker show cost does similar ratings. Spending money on the name value guys doesn't seem to be paying off in the big picture. Sure they get better attendance but is that enough to make up for extra spending, I don't know. I do know Bellator still give Paramount a lot of live sports programming for year for pretty cheap so I know ratings aren't the end all end all. But damn, you can't tell me they aren't worried back stage when the network is gaining viewers and they are losing viewers. None of us can spin that as a good thing.
 
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Coker's average is inflated by a couple of freakshow fights. Take them out of the equation and his ratings are worse than Bjorn's who built the promotion on homegrown talent at a fraction of the cost.

Actually even with all those Kimbo numbers Bjorn's averaging more.

37 Bjorn events on Spike did 701k average (This includes PPV prelims)

Coker's 79 events are averaging 668k (This includes NYC PPV Prelims)


So they are close but Bjorn actually did better ratings with less production budget and payroll.
 
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Thankfully Kendall Grove is no longer main carding Bellator cards.
 
The Paramount rebrand has been a complete failure for Viacom so far. Lip Sync Battle, Spike's biggest show, used to do around 1 million viewers. Now it's doing around 400k. Paramount's latest series debut, "American Woman" starring Alicia Silverstone, is doing around 350k. Bellator is doing better than either of those, and on Fridays, when TV ratings are at their lowest. If Kevin Costner's "Yellowstone" flops, that will prompt a lot of stories in the entertainment media about the failure of the Paramount Network .
 
To me never enough events, new people become fans and events get big with the BIG names yes with Ronda, & Connor.. Brock.. they draw in the people, cheap die-hard fans like me will watch anything if I can find someone wanting to share an event (I will bring snacks). But the bigger the event the more people will want to do it. In the meantime I watch what I can on my cheap cable package. UFC, Bellator, LFA, PFL.. any event is for me, should have fights on everyday.
 
i cant imagine bellator being around this time next year.
 
How can TV channels NOT have lost a ton of viewers to online streaming? Particularly that 18-34 demographic. It seems impossible to me.

In order for a MMA company to maintain it's TV viewership from 2008 all the way till 2018, just maintain it, they'd probably have to ncrease their overall viewership (TV and online) by 2. That's just the way it is these days.
 
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And BTW. Bellator just put on 3 back to back quality shows that included Mousasi, MVP, Fedor, Mir, Bader, Daley, Pico etc. And in that process they've set the foundation for potential dream matches like...

- Gegard Mousasi vs. Rory MacDonald
- Fedor Emelianenko vs. Chael Sonnen
- Michael Page vs. Paul Daley

Hell they even had people discussing Fedor vs. Crocop II before the unfortunate injury.

My point being, it's not like they've been doing so bad. You can see the company making real moves in signing talent, and in slowly positioning themselves as a true alternative for UFC fighters to go - even in the prime of their careers.
 
Actually even with all those Kimbo numbers Bjorn's averaging more.

37 Bjorn events on Spike did 701k average (This includes PPV prelims)

Coker's 79 events are averaging 668k (This includes NYC PPV Prelims)


So they are close but Bjorn actually did better ratings with less production budget and payroll.

Source?

The Paramount rebrand has been a complete failure for Viacom so far. Lip Sync Battle, Spike's biggest show, used to do around 1 million viewers. Now it's doing around 400k. Paramount's latest series debut, "American Woman" starring Alicia Silverstone, is doing around 350k. Bellator is doing better than either of those, and on Fridays, when TV ratings are at their lowest. If Kevin Costner's "Yellowstone" flops, that will prompt a lot of stories in the entertainment media about the failure of the Paramount Network .

I'm was under the impression that outside of Bellator Paramount was doing good.
 
How can TV channels NOT have lost a ton of viewers to online streaming? Particularly that 18-34 demographic. It seems impossible to me.

In order for a MMA company to maintain it's TV viewership from 2008 all the way till 2018, just maintain it, they'd probably have to ncrease their overall viewership (TV and online) by 2. That's just the way it is these days.

TV in general has lost viewers. But I believe last year was the first time in a few years the new subscribers to cable/satellite/etc actually went up a couple percent. Also DVR numbers are higher than ever. Lower viewership across the field doesn't effect advertising cost. It actually makes each rating point more sought after. So you can have a show that did 15.0 four years ago actually get more advertising dollars today doing 10.0 avg rating. Simply because nobody is doing 15.0 today. In other words 10.0 is the new 15.0 or whatever. Live sports have become more important to media outlets than ever before. Mainly cause they can still draw big live numbers and crush it in the 18-34 year old demographic.

The few times I've heard some MMA analysis comment on streaming numbers for shows like UFC or Bellator they basically say its so low it isn't even worth talking about. Also in the big picture it is a very new game to advertisers and networks on how to charge for streaming ads. In most cases they can't break the demographics down on streams and that is a big part setting the cost to advertise.

Ratings are tricky to talk about when dealing with something like Bellator. It really comes down to more of cost to get the ratings for someone like Paramount with the Bellator product. Bellator gives Paramount a lot of hours of live sport programming every year for what probably ends up being fairly low investment in the big picture. For example, Yellowstone is reportedly costing Paramount about 30 million for season one of 10 episodes. FX generally spends between 3 and 4 million for one hour of drama TV show they create. Bellator might only be costing Paramount 1-2 million an event and filling 2 to 2.5 hours of TV time. Plus getting the 400K or whatever back from the gate instantly and sponsorship deals for each event all helps lower the cost even further.
 
Source?



I'm was under the impression that outside of Bellator Paramount was doing good.

Showbuzzdaily.com

That site is the source for all the UFC and Bellator ratings posted on the forums. They publish the daily top 150 cable ratings. The commenters on the site are already declaring the Paramount rebrand an epic fail because of the network's low ratings. The entertainment media will follow suit if Yellowstone bombs.
 
Source?



I'm was under the impression that outside of Bellator Paramount was doing good.

The source is I spent 30 minutes on Tapology going through the 37 Bjorn SPike tv ratings and the 79 or so Coker Spike ratings and those were the numbers.
 
The problem with bellator right now is inconsistancy. They constantly have 1 or 2 shows in a month then disappear for a month and a half. Its hard to keep interested when you forget what happens. More consistancy and not TAPE DELAYING THE WEST COAST would really help. The product needs to be good as well, compare bellator 201 to 200 and you see what I mean. Maybe a rebrand of bellator challengers might help for the shittier cards.
 
The source is I spent 30 minutes on Tapology going through the 37 Bjorn SPike tv ratings and the 79 or so Coker Spike ratings and those were the numbers.

Keep in mind the rebrand, declining TV viewership, and Spike being in fewer homes.
 
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