LONDON (Reuters) – The final match of the World Darts Championship between Luke Humphries and 16-year-old Luke Littler attracted Sky Sports television’s largest ever non-soccer peak audience of 3.71 million, according to the broadcaster’s announcement on Thursday.
The competition at London’s Alexandra Palace, with Littler vying to become darts’ youngest world champion, was watched by a total of over 4.8 million people, making it the most watched darts event ever on Sky.
The previous peak record for a final of 1.65 million was established in January 2015 during Gary Anderson’s victory over 16 times world champion Phil Taylor.
A peak audience of 2.32 million had already witnessed Littler’s 6-2 semi-final defeat of 2018 champion Rob Cross on Tuesday.
Humphries, who proved himself worthy of his “Cool Hand Luke” moniker, clinched the PDC World Championship with a 7-4 triumph after winning five successive sets.
The world number one expressed his admiration for his young opponent following the match.
“He’s garnered a massive global following from numerous prominent celebrities, which is significant and beneficial for our sport,” Humphries, 28, told Sky.
“He undoubtedly has the potential to dominate the sport.”
PARTY POOPER
Humphries, who received a winner’s prize of 500,000 pounds ($633,100), acknowledged that the enthusiastic crowd had been rooting for the teenager to win but stated that he had to “spoil the party.”
He also suggested that Littler could change his nickname from ‘The Nuke’ to ‘Relentless’ due to his consistent and unfazed gameplay.
“He made everything go his way. He exhibited remarkable maturity for a young player. If you’re capable of achieving such feats at 16, it’s astonishing to think about where he could be in five years’ time.
“He will undoubtedly be a world champion one day. I just felt it was important to secure a win early on, before he dominates all of us and beating him becomes a much tougher feat.”
Littler expressed his enjoyment of the competition at a press conference but also mentioned that he was looking forward to returning home and “getting back to reality.”
Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak conveyed a congratulatory message to Littler, although some raised questions about when the “Congratulations Luke, a great win tonight” had actually been written.
“When I look on Facebook and someone’s tagged me in to say there’s people around my house, it doesn’t look good does it?,” said Littler, regarding all the ‘darts mania’ that his rise to the top had sparked.
“But it should die down and I hope it does die down because I just want to go home with no-one really near my house or anything.”
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Ken Ferris)
