Introduction
It was not long ago when Darts was viewed as a pub game where a group of people would get together, have a drink, and play a game of darts for a bit of fun. However, over recent times, Darts has taken a massive turn in popularity and is now a major televised and broadcasted sport, with entertaining players helping the incredible rise in viewership. The most recent example is regarding the 2024 World Championship final as it recorded 3.71 million viewers during the match. There are multiple reasons in the form of media for the recent rise in Darts popularity and this post will be focussing on the role of platformization in the world of sports media, particularly in Darts.
What is Platformization?
Platformization is defined as the penetration of economic, and infrastructural extensions of online platforms into the wider digital media environment; it has a large impact on the presumption of content (Nieborg and Poell, 2018, pp.3961–4412). In regards to Darts, platforms and all forms of digital media have played a large part in Dart’s spectacular rise.
How did these Media Platforms Boost Darts?
Dedicated Streaming Services:
PDC.tv is a streaming service that is provided to fans, giving them direct access to live or past darts matches, breaking news, along behind-the-scenes features. This service provides further insight into the sporting world of Darts, unlike what traditional broadcasters provide fans with, allowing fans to have a more tailored and special experience when consuming their darts content.
The Constant Rise of Social Media:
Social media has seen a vast increase in users over recent years (Perrin, 2015), with platforms such as Instagram and X (Previously known as Twitter) allowing for multiple forms of engagement and consumption. One form of engagement seen through social media is with Dart players engaging with their fans, allowing them to build a following and increase awareness for the sport. Trending moments that occur during a match will quickly spread across social media (Asur et al., 2011), reaching millions of users online who may then engage further with the sport, in addition to finding potential consumers who have not had any previous interest in Darts.
Benefits of Platformization within Darts
As previously mentioned, platforms such as social media do not have any limitations in terms of their global reach. Therefore, this allows potential consumers across the world to begin consuming content in regards to Darts (Nieborg and Poell, 2018, pp.3961–4412). In addition to this, platformization also allows for the potential to target a niche consumer segment. Individuals who are not regulars at pubs or bars, playing or seeing dart boards regularly now have the potential to become fans of the sport due to the wide range of media platforms that the sport now offers.
Conclusion
Platformization has played a huge role in the recent rise in Darts, with the use of multiple forms of media, along with active engagement between players and fans has allowed the sport to reach many new consumers. Therefore, the future of Darts is bright, as with platformization, the sport has strong foundations to grow even further.
Please see the sources used for this post below:
Dixon, E. (2024). PDC World Darts Championship final hits record peak audience of 3.71m on Sky Sports. [online] SportsPro. Available at: https://www.sportspromedia.com/news/pdc-world-darts-championship-2024-luke-humphries-littler-sky-sports/ [Accessed 17 Mar. 2024].
Nieborg, D.B. and Poell, T. (2018). New Media & Society. 11th ed. pp.3961–4412.
PDC (2024). Home | PDC. [online] Available at: https://www.pdc.tv/.
Perrin, A., (2015). Social media usage. Pew research center, 125, pp.52-68.
Asur, S., Huberman, B.A., Szabo, G. and Wang, C., 2011. Trends in social media: Persistence and decay. In Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media (Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 434-437).
Media and Digital Transformation in Sport 
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