A record audience of over 4.8m watched the World Darts Championship final, with a peak of 3.71m - the highest ever non-football peak on Sky Sports; Sky Documentaries announces the commission of an access-all-areas darts documentary series, available on Sky and NOW later this year
Friday 5 January 2024 06:56, UK
A record audience of over 4.8m people tuned in to watch the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship final, with a peak audience of 3.71m - the highest ever non-football peak on Sky Sports.
With darts fever sweeping the nation, the record audience watched on as world No 1 Luke Humphries roared back from 4-2 down to beat 16-year-old sensation Luke Littler 7-4 in Wednesday's final.
The figure represents a 143 per cent increase on the 2023 final - now famed for Wayne Mardle's iconic "I can't spake" commentary - as Michael Smith's nine-darter propelled him to victory over Michael van Gerwen.
Darts mania has also been seen across social media, with 27.6m video views across Sky Sports' social channels on Wednesday night. On Sky Sports Darts (X), there have been 149.1m impressions across the whole tournament and 9.9m video views of content around the final alone (compared to 16.5m for all of the 2023 tournament).
The impressive figures continued across Instagram - 11.8m video views - and a 10.2m total reach on Facebook. Millions also flocked to Sky Sports.com and app, with 2.44m following the live blog - up 307 per cent year-on-year compared to Smith vs Van Gerwen (648,000).
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."
As the darts continues to dominate the column inches, Sky Documentaries has announced the commission of an access-all-areas premium documentary series, 'Darts'.
In a year like no other, this three-part series will offer exclusive access to the world of professional darts and be available on Sky and NOW later this year.
The series will track the action at the World Darts Championship from pre-tournament preparation to the final and beyond, following up-and-coming hopefuls to top-seeded players, the families who support them to achieve their dreams, as well as those who work tirelessly behind the scenes to create this global phenomenon.
Tom Barry, Sky Documentaries commissioning editor, said: "This year's World Championship has shown how Darts can captivate the nation. Going beyond just the competition, for the first time, we are thrilled to be bringing audiences closer to the action and give them a glimpse of what it takes to make it to the top."
'Darts' is being produced by the award-winning documentary production company Dorothy St Pictures for Sky, whose previous credits include 'Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story' and 'Pamela, A Love Story'. It's co-produced by John Skipper's US-based Meadowlark in conjunction with the PDC.
Sky Sports is the home of darts with over 60 days of exclusively live coverage from the biggest tournaments every year including the World Darts Championship plus the Premier League, World Matchplay, Grand Slam of Darts, World Grand Prix and World Cup of Darts.
