Darts World Championship: Sport1 Shatters Viewership Records in Germany
The Darts World Championship has once again proven to be a massive draw for German audiences, with broadcaster Sport1 achieving unprecedented TV ratings. The tournament saw millions tune in, even before Christmas, setting new historical viewership records. While the final match slightly missed last year’s peak, the overall trend points to a significant surge in darts’ popularity, largely fueled by strong early performances from German players and strategic broadcast efforts.
Darts: A Consistent Performer for Sport1
Amidst recent changes at Sport1, darts remains a powerful and constant success story for the German sports channel. The latest World Championship saw more viewers tuning in than ever before. This rising interest was particularly evident in the early stages of the tournament, with strong German participation likely playing a key role in engaging audiences even during the longest World Championship to date.
The viewership figures, compiled from reports by industry magazine “DWDL.de” and based on data from AGF Videoforschung and GfK, paint a clear picture of this growing phenomenon.
Early Tournament Highlights: German Players Drive Record Numbers
- Opening Night: An average of 590,000 viewers tuned in for the session featuring Arno Merk.
- December 16 (Max Hopp): The evening session with Max Hopp boosted this to an average of 690,000 viewers, with a peak of 1.2 million watching the “Maximiser” in action.
- “German Evening” (Pietreczko & Springer): The average viewership climbed to 810,000 for the evening featuring Ricardo Pietreczko and Niko Springer. This early success positioned Sport1 as the 4th most-watched TV channel in Germany for daily market share, often surpassing football broadcasts on other private channels, especially in the crucial 14-49 age demographic.
Breaking the Million Mark Before Christmas
The momentum continued to build rapidly:
- December 20 (Ricardo Pietreczko): An afternoon session featuring Ricardo Pietreczko delivered a top value of 610,000 average viewers.
- Following Sunday (Max Hopp & Mensur Suljovic): This record was quickly surpassed, with the evening session nearing the million-viewer mark.
- December 23: A Historic Milestone: For the first time in the channel’s history, a session before Christmas (the last one before the holidays) averaged exactly 1 million viewers. This was an unprecedented achievement for Sport1 so early in the tournament.
Post-Christmas Surge: Consistent Million-Plus Viewership
The Christmas break did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm. Industry observers noted that headlines struggled to keep up with the continuous stream of new viewership records. Immediately after Christmas, with Ricardo Pietreczko’s continued participation, viewership consistently stayed in the million-plus range.
Between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, all evening sessions attracted seven-figure audiences. These are figures previously only seen for matches in the new year, with German participation or weekend games historically being outliers. The calendar constellation, with the third round starting on a Saturday, likely contributed significantly to this sustained high interest.
Gabriel Clemens’ Impact and Peak Viewership
The excitement peaked with Gabriel Clemens’ performance. On a memorable Sunday, a staggering 2.2 million people at its peak watched his incredible game against Luke Humphries. This set a new record for a third-round match. Even the average viewership for that evening, which included Arno Merk’s final game, reached an impressive 1.3 million viewers. Sport1 repeatedly claimed the top spot in daily market share among broadcasters for the 14-49 target group.
The Final Stages: Millions Still Tune In
Even without German players in the later stages, viewership remained incredibly strong, though it might have been even higher with continued German representation:
- Quarter-finals: Averaged 1.47 million viewers.
- Semi-finals: Rose to 1.87 million viewers.
- The Final: Attracted 2 million viewers.
This final figure narrowly missed the previous year’s record of 2.19 million viewers. It’s possible that the unique “Luke Littler story” of the previous year captured slightly more attention. Nevertheless, the market shares in the days leading up to the final were even higher than the previous year, underscoring the overall growth in viewership.
DAZN’s Contribution and Broadcast Team
While streaming service DAZN does not publish its viewership figures, it’s highly probable that they also experienced a significant increase in interest, especially with the prominent “sponsored by DAZN” notices contributing to the platform’s visibility. Both broadcasters deployed extensive resources, with Sport1 covering the entire World Championship on-site.
The broadcast team saw Katharina Kleinfeldt as the main presenter, briefly handing over to Jana Wosnitza. Max Hopp joined as an expert after his elimination, replacing Philipp Brzezinski. Robert Marijanovic provided commentary alongside Basti Schwele, with Werner von Moltke also making an appearance.
The Future of Darts Broadcasting in Germany
In the UK, the Darts World Championship will remain at “Ally Pally,” and TV rights were secured long-term last year. In Germany, however, the current licenses with DAZN and Sport1 are set to expire in 2026, meaning the PDC events, including the World Championship, will continue on these platforms for one more year. An announcement regarding future broadcasting rights is expected soon.
These recent record-breaking ratings will undoubtedly spark considerable interest from potential broadcasters. Despite its search for a new channel identity, Sport1 has steadfastly supported darts, even launching a dedicated show format called “Darts Party.” In the UK, while the PDC increased price pressure on Sky, they ultimately chose to continue with their long-term partner. This suggests that loyalty and established partnerships might play a role in future negotiations.
Beyond the World Championship: Darts on German TV
Beyond the annual World Championship, German fans can continue to enjoy a wealth of darts action:
- On Sport1:
- Premier League Darts
- UK Open
- World Grand Prix
- European Championship
- World Series of Darts Finals
- Grand Slam of Darts
- Selected European Tour Events
- Exclusively on DAZN:
- All other tournaments not shown on Sport1.
- All Major tournaments (also on Sport1, but DAZN has them all).
- The complete World Series.
- The complete European Tour.
- On PDC.TV:
- All Players Championship tournaments.
- The Women’s Series.
For those interested in experiencing a tournament live, comprehensive information on tickets and event details is readily available through official channels.
Source: Based on dartn.de.
