What our own data says about organising a sports session

Most articles about sport quote studies. This one quotes our own database, measured on 7 August 2026 across every session created since Smatchy launched. We publish proportions rather than volumes, and we also say what these figures do not prove.

Where do these figures come from and what exactly do they measure?

They come from the application production database, queried read-only on 7 August 2026. The calculation covers every session created since launch, with no sampling and no filter: each percentage is an exact count over the total, not an estimate.

What these figures do not measure deserves saying straight away. A registration is not an attendance. We know how many people signed up for a session, we do not know how many actually met on the ground. None of the percentages below should be read as a real participation rate.

We also do not publish absolute volumes. A proportion can be compared and checked over time, a raw volume says nothing more and belongs to our company data.

Are published sessions really open to everyone?

Yes, in the vast majority of cases. 97 % of sessions created are public, meaning visible and joinable by anyone looking for an activity in that area, with no prior invitation.

This result surprised us, because the initial assumption was that many people would use the app as a private diary for an already formed group. The opposite happens, and only the remaining 3 % reflect a closed use.

Is activity concentrated in the recent period?

Clearly. 39 % of every session ever created has a start date within the last twelve months. Put another way, nearly four sessions in ten across the whole history of the app took place in the past year.

An honest caveat: this measures an acceleration in session creation, not growth in user numbers, which we do not publish here.

How many sessions bring together several registered people?

22 % of sessions have at least two people signed up, 10 % at least three and 5,5 % at least four. Presented that way these figures may look low, and we prefer to publish them as they are rather than pick a more flattering framing.

They speak more clearly when read against each other. Among sessions gathering at least two sign-ups, 46 % gather at least three and 25 % at least four. The hard step is therefore not going from three to four participants, it is going from zero to one.

That is consistent with what research says about group adherence: the first person signing up changes the nature of the event, the next ones cost far less effort.

Why does almost no session reach its maximum capacity?

Fewer than 1 % of sessions reach the maximum number of participants set by their organiser. Here again there is an easy reading and a fair one.

The easy reading would be to conclude there is a filling problem. The fair reading is that a maximum is a safety limit chosen at creation, often well above what the organiser actually hopes for, and not a target. A ride announced for twelve people that gathers four is not a failure, it is a ride with four people.

One last figure points the same way: no session is recorded with a cancelled status. Organisers do not delete their outings for lack of numbers, they keep them.

What do these figures change for you as an organiser?

Three practical consequences. Publish publicly rather than privately, since that is what 97 % of organisers do and it is the only way to be found by someone you do not yet know. Size your maximum on what the venue allows, not on what you hope for, and do not treat it as a target.

And put all your effort into the first sign-up, because that is where the difference is made. A clear title, a fixed slot, an announced pace or level, an easy meeting point. Once one person has signed up, our own figures show there is almost a one in two chance the group reaches three participants.

Method: measurements taken read-only on the Smatchy production database on 7 August 2026, across every session created since launch, with no sampling. Percentages are rounded to one decimal. No personal data was extracted or published.