David Alcaide and Alex Kazakis
A record number of viewers saw David Alcaide’s dramatic Dafabet World Pool Masters win live on Sky Sports, while over half a million fans saw the tournament unfold around the world on Facebook Live.
Alcaide won his second Masters title with a 9-ball banked down the table at hill-hill, the final shot of perhaps the most thrilling final in the event’s 26-year history. All six sessions of the tournament saw an increase in viewership and the final kept audiences hooked with more than three times as many UK viewers tuning in compared with 2018.
The tournament was also shown live by Matchroom Sport broadcast partners around the world, while a Facebook Live stream was available to fans in nations without a TV broadcaster and reached well over 500,000 users.
Emily Frazer, Matchroom Multi Sport Chief Operating Officer, said: “We are delighted to report that our Sky Sports viewing figures showed a huge increase on 2018. The live viewership increased session-by-session, showing that sports fans were staying tuned in throughout the tournament.
“Expanding the tournament to a 24-player field meant we could bring more top-class players to Gibraltar, and they delivered one of the highest-quality Masters tournaments we have seen. The final itself will live long in the memory but we also enjoyed four other hill-hill matches including a gripping match where Shane Van Boening had to battle back from 6-3 down to defeat the Women’s World No.1, Han Yu.
“We saw great crowds for all six sessions and the response to the event on social media was phenomenal. The Masters has a great history and last weekend proved it has an even greater future. We look forward to returning to Gibraltar next year and this news gives us a great springboard into this month’s US Open 9-Ball in Las Vegas.”
Details of the 2020 World Pool Masters will be announced in due course. The next Matchroom Pool event is the 43rd US Open 9-Ball Championship, which takes place at Mandalay Bay Resort, Las Vegas from April 21-26.
2019 Dafabet World Pool Masters was sponsored by Rasson Billiards who supplied the Official Table; the cloth was supplied by Iwan Simonis and the Official Balls ware Super Aramith by Saluc. Predator was the Official Cue of the event, Kamui the Official Chalk and Tip and Ultimate Team Gear provided all World Pool Masters apparel.
