Bellator Dynamite: Record gate - less than stellar TV viewership

[Wild]

Bellator's first installment of what was hyped to be its signature event of the year, "Dynamite," may have set the company's records for live attendance and live gate, but didn't fare as well in the TV ratings.

The show, highlighted by a Tito Ortiz challenge to light heavyweight champion Liam McGeary and a four-man light heavyweight tournament, averaged 800,000 viewers between 9 p.m. as 12:42 a.m. The number was actually below the average of 892,000 viewers for Scott Coker's first year at the helm of the company.

The live event at the SAP Center in San Jose drew an estimated 11,000 fans, the most for an event in Bellator's six-and-a-half year history.

The company had hoped for success similar to the June 19 show, headlined by Ken Shamrock vs. Kimbo Slice, which averaged 1.58 million viewers and peaked at 2.1 million for the main event.

(Cont')

When looking at the ratings pattern for the show, the key was the lack of growth throughout the show. The starting point was solid for a Bellator major show, which would then usually grow as bigger names appear later in the show. But that didn't happen here.

Another key was college football competition, most notably an Alabama vs. Mississippi game that did 7.6 million viewers on ESPN.

The verdict was that people were far more excited about a grudge match with all kinds of silly pro wrestling histrionics, against Bonnar, a well-known name, than a championship fight with McGeary, who is far lesser known.

The lead in and first few minutes of McGeary vs. Ortiz in the 12:15 to 12:30 a.m. time slot did 711,000 viewers, while the last few minute and post-match, from 12:30 a.m. to 12:42 a.m., did 807,000 viewers. While the late start of the main event likely hurt, UFC on Saturday night almost always has the main event going into the cage at about 12:30 a.m. There are UFC shows where the main event isn't the high viewership point of the show, due to the late start. But often it still is.

What that indicates is that at this point the public doesn't see the Bellator light heavyweight title as something that special, even though Ortiz was promoting hard the concept of being world champion once again.

The show peaked early with the King Mo Lawal vs. Linton Vassell first round light heavyweight tournament fight doing 930,000 viewers. The Davis vs. Emanuel Newtonfight that followed did 860,000 viewers.

LINK to full story: Bellator does 800,000 viewers for first installment of Dynamite - MMA Fighting

 

[sparkuri]

That's too bad, but I'm confident they'll have a little more success in the future.
Great news on the live gate, that's an important foundation.

 

[Wild]

That's too bad, but I'm confident they'll have a little more success in the future.
Great news on the live gate, that's an important foundation.

Yeah the gate is impressive. Competing against college football is a motherfucker, and there were some legit games on Saturday night (Bama vs Ole Miss, for example).

 

[lookoutawhale]

I think some people think only UFC is MMA.

I wonder though... there is this large food company out of Thailand called UFC

If they got that company to throw in a few dollars for an event could Bellator advertise as:

BELLATOR in co promotion with UFC brings you __________

or could they get sued?

It is a legit company albeit they sell grapes and chickpeas but you could get people thinking they went in with the UFC.

I wonder if that loophole could work. @ErikMagraken ? your thoughts.

 

[sparkuri]

I think some people think only UFC is MMA.

I wonder though... there is this large food company out of Thailand called UFC

If they got that company to throw in a few dollars for an event could Bellator advertise as:

BELLATOR in co promotion with UFC brings you __________

or could they get sued?

It is a legit company albeit they sell grapes and chickpeas but you could people thinking they went in with the UFC.

I wonder if that loophole could work. @ErikMagraken ? your thoughts.

Frigging wizardry

Get outta my head!

 

[sebastien haff]

I think some people think only UFC is MMA.

I wonder though... there is this large food company out of Thailand called UFC

If they got that company to throw in a few dollars for an event could Bellator advertise as:

BELLATOR in co promotion with UFC brings you __________

or could they get sued?

It is a legit company albeit they sell grapes and chickpeas but you could get people thinking they went in with the UFC.

I wonder if that loophole could work. @ErikMagraken ? your thoughts.

 

[Chief]

Ironically, the UFC is the answer. How many of us are fans of MMA because of RFA or KOTC or Bellator? Probably none of us. Non fans don't understand the sport. MMA, cage fighting, NHB... are all just synonyms for UFC. You tell them there is a great Bellator event on this weekend free on Spike and it doesn't mean anything to them. Tell the Liam Mcgeary is defending his belt and they ask if Faber or Silva are fighting.

Not their fault. That's why Tito, Kimbo, Shamrock and Bonner are draws. The more UFC they watch, the more they learn about THE SPORT OF MIXED MARTIAL ARTS.

I don't know a quick solution, but if a second tier promotion can stick around long enough, it will slowly grow as the sport continues to grow. Remember, UFC 1 was a spectacle. Most of us tuned in to see a death match lol.

 

[Hired Gun]

Bellator/Pride 2.0/M1/Glory working together is going to cause major headaches for Zuffa. That young fighter who signs with the Quad Squad and not Zuffa might just take that next huge draw from them. Where would the woman's division be without a Ronda? How about Conor not in the UFC? You never know but sheer numbers of fighters Zuffa is going to lose is going to make an impact. You think cards are watered down now just wait. Fighters that shouldn't be fighting in the UFC are about to get their chances.

 

[Priziesthorse]

It might be time to accept that we do not give a shit about kickboxing here in America. Glory averages 426,000 viewers per show on Spike. The last 2 shows ratings have been abysmal.

Glory 22 152,000
Glory 23 295,000

Trying to recreate the magic and atmosphere of Pride and K1 was a cool idea. I'm sure it was quite the spectacle to see live, but at the end of the day, they were trying to recreate something that was popular in Japan. Two different audiences. Coker created an event that appealed to mostly hardcores and not necessarily the casuals.

 

[Zeph]

It might be time to accept that we do not give a shit about kickboxing here in America. Glory averages 426,000 viewers per show on Spike. The last 2 shows ratings have been abysmal.

Glory 22 152,000
Glory 23 295,000

Trying to recreate the magic and atmosphere of Pride and K1 was a cool idea. I'm sure it was quite the spectacle to see live, but at the end of the day, they were trying to recreate something that was popular in Japan. Two different audiences. Coker created an event that appealed to mostly hardcores and not necessarily the casuals.

The last 2 shows have been their worst in terms of talent.

 

[dacofty]

I think some people think only UFC is MMA.

I wonder though... there is this large food company out of Thailand called UFC

If they got that company to throw in a few dollars for an event could Bellator advertise as:

BELLATOR in co promotion with UFC brings you __________

or could they get sued?

It is a legit company albeit they sell grapes and chickpeas but you could get people thinking they went in with the UFC.

I wonder if that loophole could work. @ErikMagraken ? your thoughts.

I wouldnt think there was anything the UFC could do

 

[dacofty]

Ironically, the UFC is the answer. How many of us are fans of MMA because of RFA or KOTC or Bellator? Probably none of us. Non fans don't understand the sport. MMA, cage fighting, NHB... are all just synonyms for UFC. You tell them there is a great Bellator event on this weekend free on Spike and it doesn't mean anything to them. Tell the Liam Mcgeary is defending his belt and they ask if Faber or Silva are fighting.

Not their fault. That's why Tito, Kimbo, Shamrock and Bonner are draws. The more UFC they watch, the more they learn about THE SPORT OF MIXED MARTIAL ARTS.

I don't know a quick solution, but if a second tier promotion can stick around long enough, it will slowly grow as the sport continues to grow. Remember, UFC 1 was a spectacle. Most of us tuned in to see a death match lol.

I am a fan of Bellator but I cant say its strictly because of the UFC

 

[Priziesthorse]

The last 2 shows have been their worst in terms of talent.

Look at any of their shows on Spike. I believe only 1 did more than 500k viewers. 1.2 million people turned in to watch a rerun of the show Cops before Bellator Dynamite started. Glory's days are numbered on Spike tv.

 

[Darqnezz]

Bellator is the Canadian Football league of MMA. In terms of top tier talent the comparison to the UFC is not even close.

 

[Mad Dog]

I don't think they did a good job of promoting this show ahead of time. People weren't talking about it much. I didn't realize there would be kickboxing until it happened.

 

[Chief]

I am a fan of Bellator but I cant say its strictly because of the UFC

My point is that we are MMA fans because of the UFC and we are Bellator fans because we are MMA fans.

 

[teamquestnorth]

Again, this shows that people will tune into see Kimbo. Their only chance to have successful ratings for this NYE show is to have Kimbo vs Fedor. It's going to be hard enough to try to get viewers on that night anyway.

 

[dacofty]

My point is that we are MMA fans because of the UFC and we are Bellator fans because we are MMA fans.

Pre dana white UFC

 

[Silverball]

They dropped the ball on the promotion end, which is not to say that better promotion alone would've garnered them 2 million viewers, but there's no excuse for not averaging over a million viewers for an event like Dynamite. Also, broadcast the event live, it's 2015.

 

[teamquestnorth]

They dropped the ball on the promotion end, which is not to say that better promotion alone would've garnered them 2 million viewers, but there's no excuse for not averaging over a million viewers for an event like Dynamite. Also, broadcast the event live, it's 2015.

The tape delay on the West Coast kills viewership big time. By the time it starts to air, its 9pm and people are heading out. Not to mention the results are already out.

 

[Priziesthorse]

The tape delay on the West Coast kills viewership big time. By the time it starts to air, its 9pm and people are heading out. Not to mention the results are already out.

The Fedor NYE show is going to be tape delayed for everyone in the US and ppl think it's gonna do good numbers over here. Good luck.

 

[teamquestnorth]

The Fedor NYE show is going to be tape delayed for everyone in the US and ppl think it's gonna do good numbers over here. Good luck.

Agreed. Unless its a fight with Kimbo, they will be lucky to get 400k viewers.

With Kimbo, we could be looking at 1.5 to 2 million viewers easy.

His match with James Thompson got 6 million.

 

[lookoutawhale]

I wouldnt think there was anything the UFC could do

Bellator needs to go with this strategy then. Strike while the plan is hot!