If you were thinking that viewership of PGA Tour events is a slumping number, think again.
The PGA Tour just finished the first season of a nine-year, $685 million deal with ESPN-Plus. Per the data from both, there was prominent growth in eyeballs. The platform was streamed by more fans than any other live content on ESPN-Plus from January of 2022 through August.
The Tour’s first year on the paid-subscription platform coincided with a 42 percent increase in the number of subscribers and a 14 percent jump in overall Tour digital platform growth.
These numbers are no doubt welcome news at PGA Tour headquarters, where the decision-makers gambled that shepherding the Tour’s digital media rights away from the golf-specific “PGA Tour Live” platform would prove both profitable and audience-expanding. The Tour’s shift toward a newer, bigger audience on ESPN+ was based primarily on the hope that both hardcore golf fans and casual sports fans would funnel toward a more widely available Tour streaming product — a hope that has proven true through the first year.
“Our goal entering the long-term partnership with ESPN was reaching more fans and providing them with more content,” Luis Goicouria, the Tour’s SVP of Media said. “We’re thrilled with what we accomplished in the first year and how our fans have embraced the ESPN+ platform.”
This is also good news for other ventures, like the multi-billion dollar deal with Discovery.
At the end of the day, it is not good news for LIV Golf, which is struggling to find any sort of media deal for its tournaments.
