News & Insight
““One man misses, does the other man get? I have never seen the like. Come on Bully Boy. Yes! Double 12…That is the most amazing leg of darts you will ever see in your life. I can’t speak, I can’t speak!”
The World Darts Championship has always been a spectacle and the 2022/23 edition was no exception. Two Circles’ Ben Grindell and Dan Newman reflect on a moment witnessed around the world, in front of a packed out Ally Pally…
If you haven’t seen or heard Wayne Mardell’s extravagant yet poignant commentary whilst scrolling through social media over the past two weeks, where exactly have you been? In 61 seconds, and an emphatic 18 darts between Michael Smith and Michael Van Gerwen in the second set of the World Darts Championship, Smith sent the 3,000 capacity crowd at Alexandra Palace wild by hitting a nine-dart finish, and subsequently unleashing a social storm of over 100 million video views across the PDC’s YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Twitter channels. It was fitting Smith would go on to win in his third Final appearance at the Palace, the cherry on top of an immensely successful World Darts Championship.
The extraordinary darts on display was synonymous with the event’s broadcast figures, reaching a peak of 1.3 million viewers in the UK on the day of the Final. But it’s not just the UK which has caught the darts bug; a new generation of competitive European players performing on the PDC grand stage has led to growing interest across Europe, with a new record peak audience in Germany of 3.78M tuning in for German-star Gabriel Clemens’ semi-final clash with Michael Smith. With the PDC having just visited Bahrain for the first time this month in the opening event of this year’s World Series of Darts, as well as returning to New York for the second year running, darts is continuing to hit the bullseye (oops!) when it comes global expansion.
This year’s World Darts Championship was also breaking records before a single darts was thrown. Back in August 2022, every standard table and tier ticket (approximately 60,000) to the event was sold prior to General Sale, a first for the PDC. Two Circles supported in the creation and ongoing implementation of this on-sale strategy, providing best practice marketing alongside audience and ticketing insights throughout to grow engagement and revenue. A small part of this incredible milestone is thanks to the PDC’s marketable database growth, where Two Circles has supported the PDC increase their direct audience from c. 30,000 in 2018 to over 500,000 contacts today.
One of the key levers of this audience growth strategy has been taking advantage of the interest in the PDC’s biggest calendar events through pre-registration forms. Over 51,000 fans registered their interest to the 2022/23 event, over 60% of whom were new to the PDC.
With the ambition to bring the PDC’s event experience into the digital era, and continuing to grow first-party fan data, mobile ticketing was introduced to the World Darts Championship for the first time this year, with 96% uptake amongst attendees*. Two Circles supported the PDC throughout the supplier procurement process and digital implementation strategy, alongside technology partners See Tickets, SecuTix and Other Media. This digital innovation, coupled with a continued focus on the customer experience at the Ally Pally resulted in an impressive overall experience score of 8.9 out of 10.
Speaking on the success of the event, Matt Porter, Chief Executive Officer of the PDC, said: “Our work with Two Circles has enhanced the evolution of our business, helping us to develop a progressive data strategy and build a really strong customer database. This has allowed us to communicate directly with our fans, helping to build revenue through increased ticket sales and continually improve our fan engagement“.
We have a lot of sport to look forward to over the next 12 months – a home Men’s and Women’s Ashes series, the Women’s Football World Cup, Solheim and Ryder Cups, Men’s Rugby World Cup and many more. But considering the rarity of a 9-darter, on the sports’ biggest stage – in front of a sell-out crowd, shared around the world in seconds – have we already seen the sporting highlight of 2023?
*Uptake known for World Darts Championship ticket buyers only.