This past Friday’s Bellator show was the company’s least-watched televised event since the move to Spike TV in 2013.
The show, headlined by bantamweight champion Darrion Caldwell’s move up to featherweight and scoring a second-round win over Noad Lahat, did 319,000 viewers on Friday night and another 94,000 via DVR prior to Monday.
While the lowest total on Paramount, or Spike, it would have been the second lowest for total same-night viewers.
The April 19, show, headlined by Michael Chandler’s win over Brandon Girtz, did 242,000 viewers on Paramount, but still had more overall same-day viewers with another 161,000 viewers watching the simulcast on CMT.
Friday’s show aired exclusively on Paramount.
The show peaked early as the Ricky Bandejas knockout win over James Gallagher was the high point of he show, doing 699,000 viewers including those watching over the next three days via DVR.
Bellator is currently averaging 452,000 same-night viewers this year, with three events falling under 400,000 viewers on Paramount. That is down from the 696,000 viewer average of 2017. Most shows are falling between 400,000 and 600,000 same-day viewers.
Bellator’s next event will be Sept. 21 from Boise, Idaho, with a featherweight main event of Antonio McKee (11-0) vs. John Teixeira (21-3-2).
Things should heat up from there, with bigger shows on Sept. 29 in San Jose, Calif., the debut on the DAZN streaming service with Wanderlei Silva vs. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Gegard Mousasi vs. Rory MacDonald for the middleweight title, and heavyweight title semifinals on Oct. 12 in Uncasville, Conn., with Ryan Bader vs. Matt Mitrione, and Oct. 13 at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y; with Chael Sonnen vs. Fedor Emelianenko, which should be one of the highest-rated shows of the year.
