Bellator 99 drew an average of 660,000 viewers on Spike TV this past Friday night and peaked with 809,000 viewers during the main event.
That’s a large increase of 223,000 viewers over the season premiere last week which is good news for all concerned, particularly as this was their first week in their new Friday night timeslot – often considered to be the worst night for drawing a TV audience.
The event did better than I’d expected given how poor the ratings were last week, and even though the numbers are still below what they were pulling for their eighth season earlier this year (713,000 was the low mark during that run), it’s still good to get some encouraging signs that fans haven’t completely deserted the promotion.
While there wasn’t any major star power on the card there was the debut of a few familiar names from the UFC on the main card like Diego Nunes, Vladimir Matyushenko and Houston Alexander which may have helped attract some viewers, though as it turned out those three didn’t exactly set the cage on fire with their performances on the night.
It’s Bellator’s 100th show anniversary this coming Friday night so let’s see if they can continue to keep this upward momentum going.
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Bellator Season 9 Ratings:
Bellator 98: 437,000 viewers
Bellator 99: 660,000 viewers
