Bellator 258 Averages 79k Viewers

People seriously need to stop looking at ratings like it's 2008. Not every promotion is on the same channel and not every promotion is under the same pressure to generate ratings. The goal for every non-UFC promotion has to be sustainability.

So take ONE for example. ONE famously tout there 10 trillion potential viewers or whatever, but the truth is ONE Championship has been losing millions for every year of there existence with last year being the worst year yet and show no evidence of any significant tv deals or live gate revenue outside of Singapore. The way they're going, they are not a sustainable promotion.

PFL are only a startup. I like what they are doing, but as of yet they are maintained by venture capital money and there is no evidence they are sustainable at the moment or will be in the medium term.

Bellator over the last number of years reached a point of profitability albeit driven by the DAZN deal, but also by pretty decent performances at the live gate, sponsorships and overseas tv deals. For Bellator to be sustainable, they don't need to do UFC numbers on Showtime. They just need to be better value for money than a tv series that might be commissioned if Bellator wasn't on the books. In Bellators favour is that they are much cheaper to produce than your average prestige tv series and they can generate their own revenue through multiple streams, something that the new season of Dexter can't really do. It remains to be seen how the Bellator Showtime era will pan out, but success or failure is not going to be judged on linear TV ratings performance within its first 2 months on the air.

You're absolutely right but your argument will fall on deaf ears. People ignore that it's 2021 and cordcutting along with streaming services have changed how ratings should be measured.

Sports fans are more likely to tune in through apps they are casting through their Smart TV's rather than traditional cable companies, and those are numbers the public is unable to easily access. Sherdog is still living in 2010.

ViacomCBS in an internal meeting projected Bellator would turn profitable through the DAZN deal, although that would end up falling through.

They really do need to up the marketing and get more aggressive. People like to call for a name change but I don't think that's really necessary. They could still be Bellator but instead host cards called "ShowTime Fight Night with Bellator" or something, and save the "Bellator 2XX" for big cards like UFC does.
 
The goal of live sports isn't on demand viewing. A tiny faction of the audience will watch it that way.

The other thing.. with scripted shows, they can be licensed for big money to streaming services after their original runs.

For example, viacomCBS licensed the first 2 seasons of Yellowstone to NBC Peacock Network. That's big money without any cost. They already made their money running the show on Paramount Network. Just granting someone the right to stream it after 2 years has passed is found money.

No streaming service is buying old Bellator events. So yes you're right about Bellator content being cheap to produce relative to scripted but Bellator doesn't have the ancillary value scripted content has. The really good scripted shows like Yellowstone have virtually an unlimited shelf life. It could be on Peacock for 3 years.. then Netflix for another 3.. then Prime Video.. and that's just in the US. Never mind the international rights. That's even more money.
 
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