An Old Kind of Viral: Darts Inspires Soap Opera Story

While the “Luke Littler effect” might be past its heyday, it’s continuing to have a peculiar effect on darts viewership. In fact, the sport’s fame has spread so fast that it’s inspiring soap opera stories. Manchester Evening News reports that the long-running TV show, Emmerdale, is set to launch its own amateur darts story, “mirroring” real life in Yorkshire’s villages.

 

"Golden Era"

In the 1970s and 1980s, darts had a golden era with players like Eric Bristow, Bobbyy George, John Lowe, and the wee Scotsman Jocky Wilson becoming household names, as many have indicated. Still, that statement may have been surpassed, given that 3.71 million people watched the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship between Luke Humphries and Luke Littler.

To put that number into perspective, the event’s 3.71 million viewers was 143% higher than the previous final contested by Michael Smith and Michael van Gerwen. However, darts still isn’t as accessible to viewers as some other sports, making its meteoric rise to TV stardom all the more remarkable.

 

Live Streaming

Live sport has become increasingly democratised. Excluding events like football’s World Cup and European Championships, which have always been on free-to-air channels, darts remains a fixture of a premium channel - Sky Sports. This contrasts with boxing and wrestling (for example), which have both joined something of a live-streaming experiment on Netflix.

Live streaming isn’t exactly a new technology. Yet, as far as sport is concerned, it’s barely into adulthood. Most famous for gaming, e.g., Amazon’s Twitch property, the concept has been adopted by several casino and bingo websites. These feature a human dealer, in contrast to the computer-based Fluffy Favourites slot and similar pick-and-play digital experiences.

Darts’ presence at the forefront of Sky Sports' offering (the 2024 final had the second-highest viewership of any non-football event in the channel’s history) happened without the support of platforms like Netflix, despite their lower cost compared to satellite TV.

 

 

There's not much in it, though. Netflix tops out at £18.99 a month. Sky Sports complete packages can cost more than £33 over the same period, albeit with a 24-month contract.

 

Emmerdale

TV soap Emmerdale might not be the most fashionable example of a TV programme, but it's been on the box long enough to become something of a British institution. The show plans to capitalise on the Luke Littler effect by introducing a women’s dart team to the town’s centrepiece, the Woolpack.

The Manchester Evening News describes the “massive surge” in the popularity of darts as the reasoning for the storyline. Emmerdale's team features regular characters Vanessa Woodfield, Mary Goskirk, Caitlin Todd, and Claudette Anderson.

The show's producer, Sophie Roper, suggests there’s an ulterior motive for its darts storyline, noting that British pubs have experienced a decline in customers since the beginning of the decade. Darts and quizzes serve as a means to get people socialising once again.

It’s unknown how long the darts’ storyline will run, but writers intend to make it feisty. Think love interests, gossip, and adults acting immature. Unfortunately, that might mean there's not much darts on display.