WDC final becomes Sky Sports’ most watched Darts event
JANUARY 4, 2024 15.22 EUROPE/LONDON BY JULIAN CLOVER


Image: Taylor Lanning/PDC

A record audience of over 4.8 million viewers watched the final of the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship on Wednesday.
At its peak 3.7 million viewers represents a 143% increase on the 2023 final. The record figure represents the highest ever non-football peak on Sky Sports. Audiences tuned in to watch Luke Humphries beat 16 year-old Luke Littler, a virtual unknown before the start of the tournament.

“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,” said Jonathan Licht, Sky Sports Managing Director.

On Sky Sports Darts (X), there has 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 figures continued across Instagram – 11.8m video views – and a 10.2m total reach on Facebook. Millions visited Sky Sports.com and app, with 2.44m following the live blog – up 307% year-on-year compared to Michael Van Gerwen v Michael Smith (648,000).

Matt Porter, Chief Executive PDC, said: “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.”

Sky Sports has 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.