In this week’s Member Insights piece David Alexander, founder and MD of Calacus PR deep dives into the growing popularity of Darts.
It’s not that long ago that darts was associated with smoke-filled bars, pints and a male dominated crowd that didn’t exactly welcome a wide demographic of fans.
Watching Eric Bristow or Jacky Wilson with a cigarette or a pint as they played promoted a certain image that seems alien to the way the sport is now contested.
It all changed when Barry Hearn, the renowned promoter of snooker and boxing, led a breakaway from the governing body, the British Darts Organisation, to allow players to compete throughout the year and make a living from the sport.
The Circus Tavern venue gave way to Alexandra Palace and a prize fund of £64,000 with a winner’s cheque of £16,000 has risen to £2.5m with 96 players from around the world battling for the winner’s £500,000 grand prize.
The format may essentially have remained the same, but the event has taken on its own personality, blending sport and entertainment together with intro music for each player as they walk to the stage.
Darts has changed from being a sport for old men to a spectacle played and watched by a younger crowd, attracting attention from general sports fans over the Festive period in particular, rather than just a regular fanatical crowd, many in fancy dress outfits.
The sport has become progressive too, with Fallon Sherrock flying the flag for female players and beating men in the World Championships on more than one occasion.
No wonder Sky extended their broadcast deal until 2025 when the last contract came close to expiring and after this year’s drama, no one would bet against them extending it again.
That darts caught the imagination of the wider public is down in no small part to Luke Littler, the 16-year-old prodigy who reached the 2024 final last month, having first played when he was only 18 months old.
Perhaps his success shouldn’t have been a surprise, given that he was playing in under-21 competitions when he was just 10.
The unlikely star, who looks older than his teenage years, was a breath of fresh air, joking about his diet of kebabs and pizza and obsession with his Xbox.
He beat former world champions and his idol Raymond van Barneveld on his way to the final to truly announce himself on the world stage.
Because of Littler, darts became front-page news, the talk of every UK television news show, and the 2024 World Darts Championship enjoyed record-breaking viewing figures thanks to Littler’s fairy-tale.
His semi-final against Rob Cross averaged 1.79m viewers with a peak of 2.32m viewers, up by 40 per cent on the previous overall record and for the final that rose to a total audience of 4.8m viewers – the highest-ever non-football audience for Sky Sports.
Darts even dominated social media with Instagram seeing 11.8m video views and 10.2m total reach on Facebook. The Sky Sports website and app also saw 2.44m follow the live blog, up 307 per cent compared to last year’s final’s 648,000.
Sky Sports Darts’ Wayne Mardle, who knows a thing or two about the sport, believes that Littler is the real deal.
He said: “I can’t remember someone going up there with such a swagger and just banging in 180s and hitting 11 and 12-darters like they are going out of fashion.
“I’m a darts fan first and foremost, I was watching it and I had goosebumps watching him. I love people achieving and that was a boy achieving something on the world stage.”
UK-based global darts retailer, Darts Corner‘s managing director Craig Heenighan underlined how this year’s World Championships have had an impact on the sport as a whole.
He said: “Luke Littler’s performance has captured the hearts of the nation. It’s clearly had had a huge impact. It’s not often that darts is on every radio station and on the back of every newspaper.
“If you think of elite-level sports, what 16-year-old could compete and make it to the final and have a have a really strong chance of winning?
“I think with the younger boys and girls around the country, looking at Luke, at the age of 16…. We’ve all seen the videos on TV of him playing (darts) in his nappy at 18 months old.
“I think that (says to) a new generation that darts is actually quite cool. And (they think): ‘I could be quite good at darts.’ And I think it just breathes new life, perhaps, into a new generation looking at the sport.”
It’s not just the teenage sensation that caught the headlines though.
In a sport where opponents respect each other and promote the positive atmosphere created by the excitable crowd, a word too for the eventual winner this year, ‘Cool Hand Luke’ Humphries, who, despite ensuring no fairytale ending for Littler, did a great deal for the sport himself over the course of the event.
Humphries made no secret of his battles with anxiety but has overcome the challenges and lost some weight which has also benefited his performances.
In the post-match press conference , Humphries added that speaking openly about his troubles “definitely helped me because it was a weight off my shoulders”.
“I’m definitely not the only person in this room that goes through it. I was very open and honest about it because it was affecting my career and it was hard to hold it in.
“There have been lots of people on social media who’ve said ‘You’ve really inspired me and helped me’. That makes me feel great. I didn’t do it because of that. I did it because I wanted to be open and honest. All of a sudden I had celebrities and sports stars that messaged me and said that they go through the same.”
While there have been reports of pubs and clubs closing, reducing the access to darts by those who do not wish to play at home, organisations such as Flight Club can attract a Gen Z crowd.
With more than a dozen locations in the UK and venues in the US and Australia, they feature hi-tech booths with pumping tunes that also serve brunch and cocktails and interactive screens to allow groups to play different games.
Littler went one step further at the Bahrain Masters final later in January, hitting a nine-dart finish as he beat Michael van Gerwen 8-5 to secure his first senior PDC title.
It will be fascinating to see if Littler’s rise has a lasting effect on the popularity of darts but you wouldn’t want to bet against it after the excitement and focus this year’s World Championships attracted.
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