'A massive success' - Barry Hearn on World Matchplay

This years edition of the World Matchplay has been hailed as the most successful since it's inception in 1994 where Larry Butler won the first title defeating Dennis Priestley in the final.
This year it was won by Phil Taylor who equalled his World title haul and capped off a final charge at his favourite tournament with a fairytale ending where he beat Peter Wright in the final and as a result of this, viewing figures and ticket sales were up on previous years.
In terms of ticket sales, over 2,000 fans more than ever watched the event live at the Winter Gardens and eight out of the ten sessions had an increase in viewers with three sessions having a peak of around 500,000 viewers on Sky Sports.
It was not only Britain who saw had an increase as a record number of International Broadcasters streamed the event live to over 100 countries with Germany in particular having nearly 1 million people watching the event.
"The BetVictor World Matchplay was a brilliant week from start to finish but it's only when we look back that we see what a massive success it really was," said PDC Chairman Barry Hearn to PDC.TV.
"We're very proud to look back on the tournament with such great figures, both in terms of our live audience as well as TV ratings on Sky Sports and worldwide.
"For Phil Taylor to battle past three World Champions in Raymond van Barneveld, Michael van Gerwen and Adrian Lewis just to reach the final was magical, but for him to then defeat Peter Wright and win his 16th World Matchplay title in his final appearance was something special.
"The standard of play throughout the event, though, was exceptional and it's raised the bar once again for players as we enter the exciting second half of the year, where TV events come thick and fast."