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.
ADVERTISEMENT
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.
ADVERTISEMENT
"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."
ADVERTISEMENT
Samuel GillChief Content Officer
Samuel Gill is the Chief Content Officer (CCO) of DartsNews.com, a role he has held since 2020. He is responsible for editorial governance across the platform, including setting content standards, overseeing accuracy and consistency, and guiding long-term editorial strategy across professional darts coverage. Since joining, he has contributed more than 10,000 articles and editorial pieces, playing a central role in the development and daily operation of the site.
Based in Leicester, Samuel has extensive experience in darts media and has been closely involved in coverage of the professional darts circuit for several years. Within the UK darts community, he is a recognised figure known for his consistent editorial output and ongoing reporting on major tournaments and developments across the PDC calendar.
In his current role, Samuel works closely with editors and writers to ensure content meets clear journalistic standards, with a focus on source verification, editorial consistency, and timely updates when new, confirmed information becomes available.
claps 4visitors 3
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- Need to see her take part in the womens tour. She'll break the inernet.medinabello08-09-2026
- If he can be bothered? He won't play darts in Germany yet he'll go over and get an award!??rick6702-09-2026
- Why is this the main story? He chose not to compete in loads of tournaments,yes he's number 1 in the world,but he does have to turn up at tournaments! Play the next world championship in Dortmund and see if he turns up!!rick6727-08-2026
- This is exactly what I mean,littler survives the 1st round,I think you'll find a lot of other players did. Can you just report on the real sport,and not just 1 person. I like Luke,but this is getting boring now,as Kevin painter once said to Taylor!! The sport is about every player,not 1 who everyone seems to have put the sport on the map.,which he hasn't,he's just got in when the money is massive. Great as he is,it seems like what's the point in anyone trying,he's going to win everything,unless it's in Germany or Australia!!!rick6726-08-2026
- I mean look, Littler's picture is first,wattimena is second and he won! Level it up. I know littler is fantastic,but the sport was here before him,and will be when he's retired. Any player in the top 64/128 can beat each other,it's not big news. Poor Jermaine,wins it,and not even the headline!!rick6726-08-2026
- I appreciate that littler is a fantastic player,but the top 3 articles are about him. Before he'd thrown a dart in the tournament. Level it out a bit, Taylor and van gerwen soon got disliked as the media could only see them,and nobody else seemed to matterrick6725-08-2026
- The two-point Lucky Loser qualifiers are Ross Smith, Robb, Whitlock, Sakai, Ilagan and Toylo. Jermaine is not on the entries list on Dartconnect for the TCH qualifier so the four from the main OoM are probably Searle, Nijman, Dobey, Wattimena.Scoobedybop24-08-2026
- The two-point Lucky Loser qualifiers are Ross Smith, Robb, Whitlock, Sakai, Ilagan and Toylo. Jermaine is not on the entries list on Dartconnect for the TCH qualifier so the four from the main OoM are probably Searle, Nijman, Dobey, Wattimena.Scoobedybop24-08-2026
- I'd happily pay for a site free of Van der Voort's every squeak and utterance.StraightArrowNoBull19-08-2026
- I think you miss the point. It is just a poll if you are willing to pay for an ad-free site. The content stays free.SheGotLegs16-08-2026
Loading
