Sky Documentaries commissions docuseries after Luke Humphries defeats 16-year-old Luke Littler
The PDC Darts World Championship final between Luke Humphries and Luke Littler reached 4.8 million viewers.
Humphries won the set piece event, but it was 16-year-old Littler’s run to the final which grabbed the attention of the public. It peaked at 3.71 million, which was a 143% increase on the 2023 final between Michael Smith and Michael van Gerwen when what has been lauded as the greatest leg of darts ever took place when Smith threw a nine darter right after van Gerwen missed the opportunity to do the same.
This is the highest viewing figures for darts on Sky Sports and Now ever, and is the highest ever non-football peak on Sky Sports. BARB figures have it averaged at 2.2m viewers.
The finl was also a hit on other platforms, with 27.6m WDC final video views across Sky Sports’ social channels, the Sky Sports Darts X/Twitter account reaching 149.1m impressions across the whole tournament and 9.9m video views of content around the final alone (compared to 16.5m for the whole tournament in 2023), and 11.8m video views on Instagram plus 10.2m total reach on Facebook.
The Sky Sports App had 2.44m following its live blog compared to 648,000 last time.
Jonathan Licht, Sky Sports managing director, said: “Even more of the nation have fallen in love with the darts over the last few weeks and as a long-term partner of the PDC, we are thrilled that this most entertaining of sports is in the spotlight. Over 4.8m people tuned in to watch the remarkable final last night, making it the most watched non-football sports event ever on Sky and Now. Our congratulations to both Lukes and to all the players who contributed to such a memorable World Championship. We can’t wait for the Premier League event to get started in February.”
Matt Porter, chief executive of the PDC, added: “This year’s World Championship was record-breaking on every level and it’s fitting that its final reached the biggest audience in the history of the PDC and Sky darts. The two Lukes delivered an amazing contest that kept us all on the edge of our seats and finished off a thrilling and dramatic tournament in memorable fashion.
“The World Darts Championship is a staple part of Christmas viewing, delivering drama and suspense with every match and it sets up perfectly what is sure to be a phenomenal year for darts.”
In response to the success of the tournament, Sky Documentaries has commissioned an all-access docuseries, called Darts. It will follow the stories of the players beyond the oche and will be available on Sky and Now later this year. It is produced by Dorothy St Pictures for Sky and co-produced with US-based Meadowlark in conjunction with the PDC.
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