Luke Humphries 2024 win and Luke Littler’s back-to-back PDC World Darts championship titles, has seen the sport of darts reach a larger audience than ever before with circa 5 million people tuning in for the game’s gripping showpiece moments.
Commercial step changes can come to a sport periodically, and sometimes with little notice. The tennis boom of the late 1970s and early 80s is just one example. In the case of darts Andy Fordham’s 2004 World Championship win sparked a commercial boom that, I have been assured by manufacturers, was beyond anything they had ever seen.
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It appears that the two Luke’s success is another such moment and has boosted darts in business terms by inspiring Brits up and down the country to give darts a go:
- Sports equipment retailer Net World Sports report that they have seen a 43% increase in darts equipment sales YoY, with a 30% increase in dart board sales.
- The retailer has also reported a huge 100% increase in sales for darts sets Year on Year.
- They have also seen a 178% increase in clicks on their helpful Dartboard Information Guide from 1st December to 3rd January compared to last year.
- With Luke Littler’s Instagram page receiving 741,000 new followers from his first World championship run and Google searches for “darts” in December increasing to 286k compared to 200k last year, the teenager’s impact could be huge for the sport.
- Sky Sports have also reported a PDC World Darts Championship final as their most-watched non-football event ever with a massive 3.75m viewers.
Andrew Bird, marketing manager for Net World Sports, tells us about the impact of Littler’s story: “The success of Luke Litter could be a groundbreaking moment for darts and inspire a new generation to get involved in the game.”
“Throughout the duration of the World Championships, we’ve seen a surge in interest across our full range of darting products and informational guides, which coincides with Luke’s amazing exploits at the oche.”
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“In total, there’s been a massive increase in sales year-on-year for the darts category. Standout performance comes from darts sets which have doubled in sales, whilst mats (+73%) and boards (+30%) have also recorded significant boosts.”
“Fans up and down the country have really taken to Luke and want to try their hand at darts, which is further evidenced by our informational guide recording a +178% increase in clicks year-on-year.”
Many of Andrews suggestions have proven to be spot on with both Luke’s gaining different and lucrative opportunities, whether it be advertising breakfast cereal or appearing on American TV or at No.10 Downing Street, while stretching the influence and profile of darts into new spheres and across the globe.
The recent suggestion that Target Darts are valued at £200 million tends to suggest that the surge has not yet peaked.
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—–ENDS—–
Images: Tom Horak/PDC
Base story: https://www.networldsports.co.uk/
Additional editorial and reporting: JR Lott
