Incredible rise in darts viewing figures revealed with Luke Littler vs Michael van Gerwen final set to break records
LUKE LITTLER’s PDC World Championship final with Michael van Gerwen is set to smash TV viewing figures.
The Nuke, 17, has helped bring darts into the mainstream over a whirlwind twelve months.
Littler is appearing in back-to-back finals after losing 7-4 to Luke Humphries last January.
The teenager was made pre-tournament favourite after winning a host of PDC events and pocketing over £1million.
Littler has looked in imperious form going into his showdown with MVG, himself a three-time champion.
Fans were taken in by The Nuke’s story last year, with the final against Humphries the most-watched darts event in Sky Sports history.
A mammoth 3.71 million tuned in to watch Cool Hand lift the crown, per The Daily Mail.
It was the highest-ever non-football peak audience in Sky Sports history.
And according to data from the broadcast giants, this year is set to be even higher.
Interest throughout the tournament is through the roof, with viewership up 39 per cent year-on-year.
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Following Thursday’s semi-finals, there has been an average of 471,000 viewers per day,
Data from Sky adds that the semis attracted an average of 1.5million viewers alone.
The winner of this year’s PDC world title will walk away with a massive £500,000 in prize money.
But despite the pressure on him, Littler maintains he has learnt lessons from the Humphries loss.
He said: “I have gained loads of experience over the last year.
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“Michael has been in numerous finals – this is only my second, but I know where I went wrong last year, and I’m sure I will fix it.
“It would mean everything to lift this title, but my only focus right now is winning seven sets [on Friday].”