Darts smashes into top 10 of most-watched sports in pubs

Research carried out by FANZO, a venue finder for sports fans, found darts moved up four places to ninth position in terms of popularity, forcing American football (10th), basketball (12th) and horse racing (14th) down the leaderboard.

FANZO stated 2024 began with new darts sensation Luke Littler shooting to fame in the PDC World Championships and increasing interest in the sport throughout UK pubs and bars.

Benefits for publicans

And the 17-year-old looks set to repeat his achievement this year after reaching the semi-finals where he will face Stephen Bunting on Thursday 2 January with the winner meeting either Chris Dobey or Michael van Gerwen in the final on Friday 3 January.

Darts sat in 15th position in 2022 and 13th in 2023, but thanks to a whopping 261% growth in searches for pubs and bars showing matches over the past three years, it is in the top 10.

FANZO co-founder Dom Collingwood said: “For UK venues, the popularity of darts can only be a good thing with the sport offering several benefits to publicans looking to diversify the type of sport they show or maximise the value of their paid sports subscription.

Hardcore followers

“An all-year-round sport, it boasts weekly tournaments for hardcore followers while some of the biggest events fill typically quiet periods for other sports, notably Christmas/new year and the summer break between football seasons.

“Crucially, it’s a trend every single venue can capitalise on. While Sky Sports has exclusive coverage of the highest profile PDC tour events, ITV4 has rights to key events such as The Masters, UK Open, European Championship, Players Championship and World Series of Darts.”

Premier League Darts, a weekly tournament each spring featuring the top eight ranked players, has been the biggest success story, seeing searches on FANZO soar by 708% versus 2023, which represents the biggest growth of any annual competition across every single sport.