Bellator 62 ratings up 61 percent, event scores 175,000 MTV2 viewers
After one of its worst weeks ever, ratings rebounded for the latest Bellator event.
This past weekend's Bellator 62 show averaged 175,000 MTV2 viewers, which was a 61 percent increase over the 108,000 viewers who tuned in a week prior for the lowly-rated Bellator 61.
MMAjunkie.com (
www.mmajunkie.com) today confirmed the figures with industry sources.
To date, MTV2 has aired 28 Bellator events. A week ago, Bellator 61 outdrew only Bellator 53, which drew 103,000 viewers this past October.
Bellator 62, which got the organization back in the normal range for ratings, took place at Laredo Energy Arena in Laredo, Texas. In addition to the MTV2-televised main card, prelims streamed live on Spike.com. Although officials don't reveal the total number of viewers, Bellator 62's streaming audience more than doubled (up 110 percent) compared to the previous week, an official told MMAjunkie.com.
Bellator 62, which was the third show of Bellator's sixth season, featured the opening round of an eight-man lightweight tournament. The star of the show was Lloyd "Cupcake" Woodard, who scored an upset of tourney favorite Patricio "Pitbull" Freire in the night's headliner (which replaced a scratched Thiago Santos vs. Eric Prindle main event). In addition to Woodard, Brent Weedman, Rick Hawn and Thiago Michel also won at Bellator 62 and advanced to the tourney's semifinal round, which takes place next month at Bellator 66 in Cleveland.
Bellator's Friday-night competition, "The Ultimate Fighter: Live" on FX, also saw a ratings increase. "TUF: Live" saw its audience increase slightly from 1.1 million viewers to 1.2 million this week. Like the UFC's reality show, Bellator again faced heavy competition from the NCAA men's basketball tournament on Friday night.
The all-time Bellator-MTV2 ratings include:
Bellator 62 ratings: 175,000 viewers
Bellator 61 ratings: 108,000
Bellator 60 ratings: 169,000
Bellator 49-59 ratings (season five average): 186,000
Bellator 46-48 ratings (Summer Series average): 229,000
Bellator 35-45 ratings (season four average): 204,000
