Sky and PDC Darts Partner up Until at Least 2030
Sky Sports and the Professional Darts Corporation have extended their partnership. The broadcaster will remain the home of darts until 2030.
The PDC World Darts Championship will be broadcast on Sky until 2030. © Kieran Cleeves, PDC
Key Facts:
- Sky Sports will remain the home of darts until 2030.
- New deal includes over 60 days of live coverage from the biggest darts tournaments every year.
- Average audience for the 2024/25 World Darts Championship jumped 29 percent on the previous year.
Sky Sports’ love affair with darts continues unabated. Its latest declaration of love came this week when the broadcaster and the Professional Darts Corporation announced they would remain bedfellows until at least 2030. Sky has been the broadcast partner of the PDC since 1993.
The new deal will include over 60 days of exclusively live coverage from the biggest darts tournaments annually. Sky has the rights to the PDC World Darts Championship, Premier League, World Matchplay, Grand Slam of Darts, World Grand Prix and World Cup of Darts.
Darts Viewing Figures Hit the Bull
Darts viewing figures reached new heights last year when a record audience of over 4.8 million people tuned in to watch the 2023/24 PDC World Darts Championship final between Luke Humphries and then 16-year-old Luke Littler.
The final’s peak audience was 3.71 million, making it the highest-ever non-football peak viewing figure on Sky Sports. Nevertheless, the average audience for the 2024/25 World Darts Championship jumped 29% from the previous year.
Fan interest was sustained throughout 2024, with Sky also declaring record viewing figures for the Premier League. In terms of numbers, the competition’s top 15 nights ever all came during last year’s tournament. The Premier League was first staged in 2005. Luke Littler is favourite to win the 21st edition.
Growth of Uniquely Brilliant Sport
Announcing the extended partnership with the PDC, Jonathan Licht, Managing Director of Sky Sports, said: “The incredible growth in darts viewership on Sky Sports over the last 12 months shows just how much the nation loves this sport.”
“The extraordinary story of last year’s World Championship helped to welcome new younger audiences to the sport and brought increased excitement for fans. Following another successful tournament, there seems no better time to extend our longstanding partnership with the PDC to remain the home of this uniquely brilliant sport.”
“We’re excited to keep innovating to tell the stories and bring fans closer to the action through our unrivalled coverage of the biggest darts tournaments for the next five years.”
The Queen and the Docu’s
Dart’s meteoric rise in popularity can be charted back to 2019 when Fallon Sherrock’s heroics at the William Hill sponsored PDC World Championship catalysed the explosion in interest in the professional game.
In beating Ted Evetts 3-2 in the first round and then Mensur Suljović 3-1 in the second round, Sherrock became the first female player to win a match – and subsequently two consecutive matches – at the sport’s showpiece event. Sherrock was later given the moniker ‘Queen of the Palace’ in reference to the World Championship venue, the Alexandra Palace.
Further raising Dart’s profile, Sky Sports Documentaries premiered ‘Game of Throws: Inside Darts’ in December 2024. The three-part series followed leading players and dark horses ahead of the previous year’s World Championship.
2025 has begun with yet another Darts documentary on Sky. ‘Dart Kings‘ explores the halcyon age of Darts by charting the success of John Lowe, Eric Bristow, Jocky Wilson and Phil Taylor between the late 1970s and early 1990s.
