"We needed some return to normality over Christmas, and the darts gave us that." 📺 There may have been no fans in attendance, but the 2020/21 William Hill World Darts Championship enjoyed record-breaking viewing figures around the globe.
The 2020/21 PDC World Darts Championship was an interesting one due to it being behind closed doors but it was also a record-breaking one in terms of viewership across the globe.
In the UK, Sky Sports was broadcast on both the Main Event and dedicated Darts channel with a peak of around 1.25 million and an average of 1m viewers for the final.
In Germany, the growth of darts continues with record figures on Sport1 during matches for Max Hopp, Nico Kurz and Gabriel Clemens. During the Kurz v Clemens game in particular, there was a record peak of almost 1 million fans.
Clemens' third round shock over Peter Wright saw it jump to 1.2 million before this was an average against Krzysztof Ratajski with a record peak of 2.2 million.
DAZN streamed over 7 million hours in Germany around 40% up on the previous year while RTL7 in Holland recorded strong figures especially Michael van Gerwen losing to Dave Chisnall.
While as revealed this week, Belgium recorded half a million viewers for Dimitri van den Bergh's fourth round tie against Dave Chisnall which has now seen them pick up further coverage.
"It was a wonderful event and a great statement of how a sport like darts can help the mental health of the country and of the world by giving them sporting entertainment at a time when we all needed a little lift," said PDC chairman Barry Hearn.
"It was just so viewable, and it came at a time when the country and the world probably needed a bit of darts!
"We needed some return to normality over Christmas, and the darts gave us that because it was always there for us, 120 hours of live broadcasts going to 130 countries around the world.
"We had great drama, great storylines, great emerging talents, great failure, great celebrations, the tears of defeat.
"Of course we missed the crowds and we look forward to welcoming them back as soon as possible, but did it affect the standard of what we actually put across on television? Not at all, and that's a compliment to the players."
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- This is the difference between other players and Phil Taylor. Phil would be completely motivated even before his walk on and didn't need anything else to do so.richieburnettrocks14-11-2024
- Still impressive though. Also literally everyone cares about averages that's what makes darts fascinating.medinabello14-11-2024
- BS he won a Euro Tour during this down period something that not many players can say. Dobey, Noppy, DvD, Ross Smith to name just a few.medinabello14-11-2024
- Maybe the supposed top players are burnt out from the endless travelling and tournaments, I just don't think they have the dedication or outright desire to win. I think they are more interested in the money and being popular, just keeping their rankings steady. The only thing that mattered to Phil Taylor was winning, not winning a few games to top up the money pot and seeking the fans attention. Maybe there is too many tournaments now and the enthusiasm is gone. This year especially has seen so many different winners and unexpected draws and line ups.richieburnettrocks14-11-2024
- Nobody cares about averages, the only record he'll take from Phil and its meaningless. Winning tournaments is the only importance of darts and nobody will ever eclipse Phil in any meaningful way. What does an average pay or warrant any success, this proves that, yet people still bang on about them.richieburnettrocks14-11-2024