Bellator 39 and Strikeforce Challengers ratings

[Steel Mamba]

How the heck do you guys keep saying that M-1 had no promo, when SF and SHO have been plugging the event for awhile now. They pretty much just piggybacked off the success and recognition of SF.
Bellator doesn't have that luxury.

Still, you can't argue with the pub Bellator has gotten under Viacom, no other network has, or would have pushed their org the way they have. That ALONE makes it a damn good deal for them. Whether or not it's beneficial for them to be there long-term is another story, but without a doubt being on MTV2 is the best thing that has ever happened to Bellator at this point.

[Steel Mamba]

& don't forget that a lot of those numbers are up against March Madness as well.

[Liquidrob]

They Were the only MMA show on saturday night with there biggest and highest ranked fighter and it did nothing, MTV2 is nothing for mma and bellator

[Steel Mamba]

Far more people recognize Bellator now than they did before the MTV2 deal. All of this free pub will pay off in the long run. Translating that into viewers is something else entirely, IMO they run the shows too often. But, the bottom line is this - the most important thing is brand recognition. Without it the network you're on doesn't mean squat. With it, you can go on any network you want and pull good numbers. Who cared about Ion until the UFC came to town? Who cared about TruTV before March Madness started?

But, again step one is building the brand and that's exactly what MTV2 is doing for them. When you look at the push they're receiving you can't say that MTV2 means nothing for MMA, when no other network was willing to push Bellator this aggressively. Forget about the numbers for a second and look at the big picture.

[Warner2BruceTD]

I would argue that MTV2 has failed in "building the brand". They are now at levels lower than FSN. What exactly are they building?

MTV2's prime time base is 90k, they would get that airing test pattern. That means roughly 100k (or less lately) are tuning in specifically to watch Bellator. This weeks replay number of 89k proves that. None of the MMA fans showed up for the replay, because there was no UFC or SF, so they watched live. When they turned it off, the same 90k that always watch MTV2 stayed. Let's not forget, this was in theory their strongest lineup with Alvarez and (to a much lesser extent) the debut of Saunders.

The show isn't driving viewers, in fact it is losing viewers. Even if this supposed Viacom media blitz you claim is happening (I don't seee it), it isn't working. People checked it out the first two weeks, and haven't bothered to come back. And its not like doing 200k is something phenominal, it was just good by their crappy standards, which as I said from Day 1, even exceeding MTV2 low standards by 100% (which they have done some weeks) would still ultimately = failure, because the base was so low that it still means nobody is watching.

There is nothing to gain from being on MTV2 except staying afloat and praying a real network takes a chance on you. That's it.

[Steel Mamba]

It's all still too early to gauge. Tune into MTV for 30 minutes and you'll see the media blitz I'm talking about. I think the bigger problem is actually the setup and not the promo or network. I disagree that Bellator has the best format, maybe it's the most fair, but it sucks for building stars and creating hype. In the fight business you have to match make, you have to create matchups that fans want to see, and you have to create matchups that will make for interesting fights. You have to build your stars up, slowly progressing them through the ranks.

Tournaments only work when you have big names involved, no one wants to tune in every week to watch a 2nd tier tournament. There's no hype behind it and it's too hard to follow. So, the problem is Bellator, not MTV2.

Some MTV2 facts:

MTV2 is a man’s best friend, available in nearly 80 million homes and with the highest concentration of males 12-24 and 12-34 on TV today. A vibrant mix of music, lifestyle and action sports programming, MTV2 has reflected the habits and behavior of young people since its launch in 1996. MTV2 is part of MTV Networks, a unit of Viacom, one of the world’s leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms.

Also, consider this, from what I understand the LFL was able to draw millions on MTV2, so that's proof that the station can be a good platform.

[Steel Mamba]

Bellator = NIT of MMA.

Ditch the tournament and people will be more interested.

[Warner2BruceTD]

Big Dave has been reading Around The Cage, I should call a lawyer:

Bellator on 4/2 did 174,000 viewers for the first-run show and 89,000 for the repeat, back in its normal time slot. This is a terrible sign, even though it was bucking the Final Four which is going to hurt. But this had the company’s biggest star, Eddie Alvarez, defending his title against Pat Curran in the main event and had no MMA TV or PPV competition. Next week the second hour goes against Strikeforce. The time slot changes have hurt but this is well down from where they started. This is not the level of decline of the MTV 2 Lucha Libre show last year, but it is still showing a slowly declining ratings pattern.

Like I said when the number came out, this is the first week that I would call the rating a disaster.

The time changes are killing them, they should just stay put no matter what they are going head to head with. Worrying about losing a few thousand viewers to UFC or SF is "penny smart, dollar dumb" when you are dealing with numbers this small. The goal should not be to cater to hardcores, who will find the show no mattter what, the goal should be to create your own NEW fans, especially the teens that they are supposedly capturing by being on MTV2 in the first place. Any TV producer will tell you that constantly shifting timeslots is the worst possible thing that can happen to a show.

They need to worry about capturing the guy who channel flips on Saturdays, and not worry about the guy who goes to UFC parties once per month. The first guy might have liked it one week, then checks back the next week and cant find it. The second guy likely doesnt give a shit enough to watch an extra two hours of MMA, and if he does, he knows how to find the show no matter what.

TV viewers are creatures of habit, sometimes we lose sight of the fact that a very very small percentage of MMA fans are message board geeks like us who know when this stuff is airing week to week. Most people dont know or care enough to track it. Most people who come back to find the show and dont see it, will just give up and find something else to watch on Saturdays. Consistantcy is everything.

Rebney's claims of the inconsistant timeslots on FSN being a negative was just typical promoter BS. He's moving his show around BY CHOICE now, and drawing less viewers than before in the process.

[EmpireWF]

40 Ratings:

* Bellator 35 ratings: 200,000 viewers
* Bellator 36 ratings: 230,000
* Bellator 37 ratings: 173,000
* Bellator 38 ratings: 150,000
* Bellator 39 ratings: 174,000
* Bellator 40 ratings: 218,000

From Junkie:

Bellator 40 actually overlapped an hour with "Strikefoce: Diaz vs. Daley" on Showtime, which garnered 528,000 viewers. In addition to the initial MTV2 audience of 218,000 viewers, 190,000 viewers tuned in for the immediate replay

[Steel Mamba]

Boom motherfuckers! Bellator on the rise

[Liquidrob]

strikeforce peaked at 806,000

[Warner2BruceTD]

Boom motherfuckers! Bellator on the rise

I'll give you one guess why it went back up.

[Steel Mamba]

MTV's hard work finally starting to show?

...But Im guessing it was just on at its regular time again.

[Warner2BruceTD]

MTV's hard work finally starting to show?

...But Im guessing it was just on at its regular time again.

Yup, two weeks in a row in the regular slot.

Look at the ratings trend. They build momentum, then screw with the timeslot and go way down, then slowly crawl back up in the regular slot again.

I'd be willing to bet they would do a similar number if they stayed put and went head to head with UFC PPV's. Moving just screws with the regular viewers and kills momentum. Lucky for them, everyone has eventually found their way back so far. But can they grow? 200's won't cut it, you know that. We only celebrate that because its MTV2. Anywhere else they'd be cancelled by now.

I mean, a million isnt even a huge number on a decent basic channel. WEC was considered a ratings failure most shows doing 3, 4, 5, 6 times the Bellator number. This is why I say you cant succeed on MTV2. There is just no audience.