While there is always “doom and gloom” talk when it comes to snooker and its ability to draw in new
viewers, the facts are that the audience is continually on the rise.
Take this year’s Snooker World Championship. Compared to 2022, the average viewing figures
peaked at 1.4 million, which is a 12% rise from the year before. Overall, the total viewership reached
13.3 million, with 23.3 million streams watched from the beginning right through to the final.
So while scaremongering is common in any sport, it doesn’t ring at all true when looking at the
snooker audience numbers.
That being said, it’s interesting to question exactly why this is the case. After all, it is widely – and
legitimately – documented that grassroots snooker and pool are dipping, with fewer new talent
pools to challenge the biggest names in the game.
Interest in snooker at the amateur level is waning, and with this knowledge in mind, why exactly is
the viewership for snooker building?
The Video Game Phenomenon
We would hazard that one of the biggest factors in the continued interest is the entertainment
industry. The world of iGaming, for instance, has long impacted the sporting market.
With games available on both Apple and Android devices, players have an avenue to discover and
share sports that they hadn't previously interacted with. For pool and snooker – among other sports
– it has offered a platform that was not there previously.
Just think, there are 3 billion smartphone gamers in the world right now. Pool is also one of the most
compatible games for the smartphone platform – with one player on either side of the table, and an
objective to get balls into pockets, the game is far simpler than other popular sports like football,
American football, cricket, or rugby.
In many ways, it feels made for the mobile app format. As mentioned previously, too, the iGaming
market has pool – or pool-themed – games that can introduce new people to the game, get them
interested, and invested, and then encourage them to tune in to watch the real thing.
Turning Gaming Fans Into Sporting Fans
Going back to 2009, the revolutionary smartphone, the iPhone, had only been around for three
years. Because of this, the online gaming market was only worth a total of $15 billion. In 2023, that
number has rocketed to $334 billion, and it is only set to grow further.
Couple this knowledge with an article that came out in 2010, stating that snooker would not last the
decade, and it’s hard not to make a connection between the growing rate of gamers and the
growing rate of snooker viewers – and sports viewers in general.
According to a recent investigation, a majority of questioned gamers felt that sporting video games
helped them to become a sports fan in real life, and referred to sporting games as a tool to connect
people to real televised sports.
We’re not saying that’s the only reason the 2023 final had more viewers than the already seismic
reach of the 2022 final, but it’s certainly a factor to consider when considering pool and snooker’s
growing popularity. It also adds a certain amount of optimism for the future. Unlike other sports,
pool and snooker have remained largely traditional, hardly changing their original form that took the
world by storm at the end of the nineteenth century.
While some naysayers will suggest this is bad news when it comes to retaining interest, so long as
aiding markets like the gaming industry remains strong, then snooker should remain strong too. Not
to mention, with more viewers watching the games, that interest will be shared, and the effects will
trickle down to the grassroots level. This should help to create more engagement, more competitors,
and more incredible games for decades to come.
