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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Bellator's fourth event on Spike TV Thursday night, Bellator 88, saw a slight uptick in ratings from the previous week, drawing 807,000 viewers for the live airing on the cable network.
The two-hour broadcast, which featured the quarterfinals in the season eight featherweight tournament along with Alexander Shlemenko capturing the vacant Middleweight Championship over Maiquel Falcao, also drew 268,000 viewers for its immediate replay.
The broadcast drew a .7 rating in the key demographic of men 18-49, the highest such rating for Bellator ever. After four weeks, Bellator is averaging 864,000 viewers per live broadcast.
Penick's Analysis: Bellator and Spike officials reportedly viewed last week's Bellator 87 event as what they hoped would be their basement number, as it had no title fights and no major names. Seeing an uptick this week for a title fight and an exciting card is a positive sign that reinforces that belief, and they're already performing above what most expected. Considering many projections were in the mid 700s for the debut, the fact that they've drawn more than that each week is a very successful start. If they can keep that up and build from there, it will be very positive for them gaining traction as the No. 2 MMA organization in the world.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
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