The Brief
Ryder Cup Europe approached Genius Sports to build a digital gamified fan experience for golf’s most prestigious tournament. Their objectives:
1.
Acquire first-party
fan data
2.
Engage new,
younger audiences
3.
Drive on course
engagement
Ryder Cup drives loyalty with Game Zone
The Challenge
A biannual event, the Ryder Cup has the challenge of retaining audiences between tournaments. The lengthy build-up period provides a unique opportunity to harness international anticipation and drive digital fan engagement.
Ryder Cup Europe also wanted to develop a first-party data strategy for the three-day tournament and reach younger audiences, including Gen Z.
With over 270,000 fans set to attend, Ryder Cup Europe made enhancing its in-venue experience a key strategic priority, too.
The Solution
Genius Sports developed an all-in-one digital experience for the Ryder Cup that included Pick’em, Fantasy and Predictor games.
Built onto the tournament’s owned digital properties, the 2023 Ryder Cup Game Zone required fans to register. Each game included mini-leagues, leaderboards and automated social media sharing features.
Your Picks – In the lead-up to the tournament, allowed fans to make their own Team Europe & Team USA picks.
Fantasy – Leveraged a unique scoring system, enabling fans to select their team between AM and PM sessions.
Pinpoint – Fans predicted the ‘longest drive’ and ‘nearest the pin’ in each round, playing at home or at the event by scanning QR codes.
The Result
Ryder Cup Europe executed a successful first-party fan data strategy, achieving record-breaking engagement
on the 2023 Ryder Cup Game Zone. It will be used again at the 2025 tournament.
67%
of all users played
on all 3 days
42%
of all users were
under 35 years old
65%
of users stated the Game Zone enhanced their Ryder Cup experience