This year’s World Snooker Championship is coming to an end this weekend, and the tournament for the first time has been shown on Facebook Live in certain geographies, including throughout North and South America as well as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.
Thanks to a partnership with Facebook Live, fans in these territories will be able to watch the event for free simply by connecting to World Snooker’s Facebook page. The sport’s premier competition, which began in 1927, is being broadcast live on Facebook in the U.S. up to and including the semifinals only. As part of the deal, fans in these selected territories are able to see both tables at the iconic Crucible Theatre in Sheffield throughout the tournament.
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The tournament, which sees 32 of the best players in the world compete for the Championship compete for nearly $480,000 in winner money ends May 1, and the final will be played at Crucible Theatre for the 40th time. England’s Mark Selby, who is still in the tournament, is seeking to retain his title again this year.
“This is a momentous announcement for snooker fans worldwide as it means our biggest tournament will have a far greater global reach than ever before,” Barry Hearn, Chairman of World Snooker, said in a statement. “We already have a television audience for the World Championship in excess of 300 million in over 100 countries, and now we want to broaden our reach across the entire planet via Facebook Live.
“For the countless millions of fans in these territories this is fantastic news as they will be able to watch all 17 days of the tournament live and free, simply by logging on to our Facebook page.
“For us this strategy is about reaching out to relatively untapped areas and finding out the strength of the market. Snooker is booming in the UK, Asia and Europe and we are always looking for the next opportunity as we seek to develop as a truly global sport.”
“We’re delighted to be working with Facebook on this initiative for the first time and I look forward to seeing some impressive numbers. We are celebrating 40 years of the World Championship at the Crucible this time and this is set to be the greatest tournament yet.”
A full list of countries which can view the action live is available via World Snooker’s website.