Bellator 39 ratings show slight bounce from Bellator 38, Alvarez vs. Curran headlined event brings 174,000 viewers to MTV2

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Bellator's fifth event of their fourth season, airing on MTV2, saw a slight upcrease in ratings compared to the fourth episode, as MMAJunkie.com reports that Bellator 39 garnered 174,000 viewers for the network on Saturday night.

The card, headlined by Bellator Lightweight Champion Eddie Alvarez's successful five round title defense against Pat Curran, took place from the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn. The 174,000 viewers marked an increase from the 150,000 that tuned in for Bellator 38 the previous weekend.

However, with the event running unopposed by the UFC or Strikeforce, the event drew much lower than the last unopposed event, the March 12 Bellator 36 event, which drew a season high 230,000 viewers. Here are the ratings for the five season four events thus far:

* Bellator 35 ratings: 200,000
* Bellator 36 ratings: 230,000
* Bellator 37 ratings: 173,000
* Bellator 38 ratings: 150,000
* Bellator 39 ratings: 174,000

Penick's Analysis: They did just 1,000 more viewers than the event that went moved earlier for UFC 128 on March 19, and it can't be denied that moving the timeslots have a negative effect on viewership. This was one of the strongest cards Bellator has ever put out, and considering it went unopposed it should have done a better number than that. Still, MTV2 is happy with the ratings right now, as they're at least double than the typical numbers in that timeslot prior to Bellator, so as long as they don't continue going down from these numbers, they'll be doing just fine as far as the network is concerned.

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/Bellator/article_8972.shtml

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