Updated 2/2 – Bellator put on its third live show on Spike TV last night with the a bevy of lightweight tournament matches that featured a main-event of David Rickels advancing with a unanimous decision victory over Lloyd Woodard.
This weeks Bellator 87 was the first time the show did not crack the Nielsen top 100 cable ratings.
The shows preliminary number landed at about 705k total viewers marking a small dip from Bellator 86 which pulled 877k (with DVR numbers).
On a good note, the preliminary 18-34 male demographic number was the highest of the season with a 0.6, according to SpikeTV. This is key as this is the core number advertisers look at most closely. So before anyone starts worrying, that number was huge for Bellator and advertisers.
Again, overall this total viewers number cannot and should not come as a shock. This was the first fight card that didn’t have a title fight and a huge name. It also didn’t help that Pitbull dropped out a few days before the fight card that definitely hurt some casual fan viewing. Side note, Spike TV did have the incorrect graphics for Bellator during its pre-taped Impact Wrestling show that was Bellator’s lead-in, as it had images advertising Askren’s title fight which was last week.
Speaking of Impact Wrestling, the show did a very solid 1.58 million viewers with a 0.6 in the adult 18-49 demographic. The show was pre-taped last night from Manchester, England but was heavily up-sold as TNA President Dixie Carter announced that Impact Wrestling would be on “the road” from now on. Meaning no more regular Impact Zone tapings.
For the rest of the competition last night Bellator was once again up against MTV’s Buckwild which outperformed everyone with 2.53 million viewers and a 1.4 in the adult 18-49 demographic. It should also be noted that the 10:30PM episode of Buckwild actually outperformed the 10PM episode. FX and USA networks both did huge numbers at 10PM with FX’s Archer nabbing 1.58 million viewers and USA’s SUITS landing around 3.36 million viewers.
Bellator Season 8 Ratings History:
Bellator 85 – 985k (w/ DVR)
Bellator 86 – 877k (w/ DVR)
Bellator 87 – 705k (w/out DVR)