How British Darts Phenom Luke Littler, 17, Became Sky Sports' Most-Watched Athlete Beyond Football

Forbes

Qualifying for the PDC World Championships at the age of 16 was itself an accomplishment, but for British darts phenom Luke Littler, it was only the beginning. During an improbable two-week run through the tournament, "Luke the Nuke" became a sensation across Europe, appearing on TV talk shows and seeing his Instagram following grow from 4,000 to more than 1.2 million fans. His championship match was the most viewed non-football sporting event in Sky Sports history with 3.7 million viewers. Endorsements with Škoda, boohooMAN, Target Darts and Prestige Building Supplies soon followed, and Littler believes he's at the forefront of an explosion in darts popularity. "The world's gone mad [for darts]," he says. "It's one of 'em sports where you're standing there throwing some tungsten into a board and you're winning yourself some money and you creating yourself some legacy."  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.Forbes,Forbes Media,Forbes Magazine,Forbes Digital,Business,Finance,Entrepreneurship,Technology,Investing,Personal Finance,luke littler,darts,luke the nuke,sky sports,PDC World Championships,athlete,sports news,interview with luke littler,sports money,endorsements,Škoda,boohooMAN,Target Darts,Prestige Building Supplies,brand deals,30 under 30 europe,30 under 30,europe,uk,france,germany,portugal,spain,austria,denmark,britain,england

Transcript

00:00 "Would you please welcome the reigning junior and world youth champion, the sensational

00:07 16 year old Luke 'The Nuke' Littler!"

00:14 Qualifying for the PDC World Championships at the age of 16 was itself an accomplishment,

00:20 but for British darts phenom Luke Littler, it was only the beginning.

00:24 During an improbable two-week run through the tournament, "Luke the Nuke" as he's

00:28 called, became a sensation across Europe, appearing on TV talk shows and seeing his

00:34 Instagram following grow from 4,000 to more than 1.2 million fans.

00:39 His championship match was the most viewed non-football sporting event in Sky Sports

00:44 history, with 3.7 million viewers.

00:48 Endorsements of Skoda, Boohoo Man, Target Darts, and Prestige Building Supply soon followed,

00:54 and Luke believes he's at the forefront of an explosion in darts popularity.

00:59 Luke sat down with us in London to talk about his recent, yet rapid, rise to fame.

01:04 "It's always been like a pub game, an old game.

01:09 It's one of those sports where you're just standing there throwing some tungsten into

01:13 a board and you're winning yourself some money and you create yourself some legacy.

01:20 I started myself on the development tour, which is 16 to 23.

01:24 And then if you finish top two over 24 events, you gain your tour card, which is your professional.

01:32 You're guaranteed to play at the World Championships, which I did.

01:35 And then I made it to the final, but it was just, for myself, it was all about trying

01:40 to get into the top two.

01:42 It was my first shot, I'd done that, and then obviously done really well at the World

01:47 Championships and got myself into the top 32.

01:50 So it's just a bonus for me.

01:52 I'm near enough guaranteed loads of these events that are coming up."

01:57 "And he finishes it on double ten!

02:00 Luke Littler by name, but right now arguably the biggest name in world darts.

02:06 Littler takes the giant step into the World Championship final, 19 days shy of his 17th birthday."

02:15 "A little after, my manager spoke to me and my mum and dad and said, 'Do you want to play

02:19 in the Premier League?'

02:20 Which is on for 16 weeks.

02:22 And then after the 16 weeks, if you're lucky enough, you get to go to the O2 London to

02:27 try and win it under the top four.

02:29 And then got invited to Bahrain, Den Bosch in Netherlands to play in the World Series

02:36 and then qualify for my first Euro tour, won my first Pro Tour.

02:41 So it's just all good hopes this year."

02:45 "My very first game in the World Championships, I was on 4,000 followers.

02:54 And then first game I won, I went up to about 40,000, 50,000.

02:59 And then it was just going up 100,000, 200,000, 300,000.

03:03 And then now I'm at 1.2 million.

03:05 My TikTok has got about 350,000 as well.

03:09 And it's just crazy for myself getting all these likes and shares on my posts.

03:14 I'm still very young, I'm still always on social media.

03:17 And to see my posts getting almost 100,000 likes every post, it's just...

03:22 I enjoy it, yeah."

03:24 "It's obviously crazy.

03:28 I'm sponsored by Boohoo Man now.

03:30 My manager spoke to me about the deal.

03:33 I said to him, 'Yeah, do it.'

03:35 I wear their clothes most of the time.

03:37 But yeah, it's just nice to go on there and just pick whatever I want and they'll just bring it to me.

03:43 So Boohoo Man was a big one."

03:45 "I know the expectation of me going into every tournament will be high.

03:51 But like I said, I just want to do well.

03:54 Try and go deep into every competition that I potentially qualify in playing.

03:59 If you're not focused, then no one wins."

04:02 [Music]

04:06 [Music]

04:08 [Music]

04:10 [Music]

04:12 [BLANK_AUDIO]

Category

Transcript

Recommended