Sky commission new three-part ‘Darts’ documentary following record-breaking viewing figures
Following a record-breaking year for darts and unparalleled numbers watching the 2024 World Championship Final, Sky Documentaries have now commissioned a three-part series taking fans behind the scenes of the ever-growing sport.
Announced just days after the World Darts Championship final, the PDC’s chief broadcaster has decided to capitalise on the buzz surrounding Luke Littler’s fairytale debut and all-round blockbuster tournament this year, not mention the recent trend of fly-on-the-wall sports documentaries.
Describing 2023 as “a year like no other”, the new docuseries simply dubbed with the working title, ‘Darts‘ will arrive later this year on Sky Sports and NOW TV, promising a more in-depth look at the arrows than viewers have ever seen before.
With the new season of Premier League Darts starting in February as well, it’s looking like the perfect time to double down on the
With over 4.8 million viewers tuning in for the 2024 final between Littler and Luke Humphries the competition saw a whopping 143% increase on the 2023 final, which has already firmly gone down as iconic in its own right.
Boasting a peak audience of 3.71m as ‘Cool Hand’ claimed his first-ever World title after an unreal streak of 19 consecutive wins, it was up there with one of the most viewed sporting events in the channel’s history outside of football.
Social media has also exploded with darts fever as well. As detailed in a press release following the ‘Battle of the Lukes’, there were over 27.6m views of clips from the final and a total of 149.1m impressions across the whole tournament on X alone.
For context, there were 16.5m views throughout the entire 2023 World Darts Championship. Even the Sky Sports App’s live blog had 307% more users during this January’s final compared to Michael Van Gerwen vs Michael Smith. Insane stats.
Read more:
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- 16-year-old Luke Littler looks wise beyond his years in humble but happy post-final interviews
- AO Arena is being filled with thousands of tonnes of dirt for a night of motocross madness
Being produced by Dorothy St Pictures and Meadowlark Media, there is currently no projected release date at this early stage but the fans of Sky’s Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story and Pamela, A Love Story docs can expect a similar approach.
Sky Documentaries Commissioning Editor, Tom Barry, said of the project: “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.”
You best believe we’ll be tuning in.
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Featured Images — Sky Sports/Luke Humphries (via IG)/Sandro Halank (via Wikimedia Commons)