Golf's Digital Media Evolution
How YouTube is driving the game forward.
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Hey Golfers —
Digital media is hot in the game of golf. Golf has embraced it and has a significant opportunity to grow interest in the game. In some cases, you could argue that it has already grown the game.
According to National Golf Foundation — over 45 million people played on-course or off-course golf last year.
That number has been talked about and written about. But we haven’t touched too much on this number. Golf’s overall reach last year was 123 million. Over 33% of the United States over the age of five engaged with golf in some manner.
Watched Golf on TV
Followed Golf online
Listened to a golf-related podcast
Read about the game of golf
The 123 million number is up 30% since 2016.
Golf has leaned into the macro digital trends that we are seeing in other industries.
YouTube creators have played a massive role in this. While we have data that supports this — I have also had 100s of anecdotal conversations with golfers stating their support and enjoyment for a specific YouTube channel.
I have heard this statement several times, “I picked up golf during Covid and got hooked. I watch Rick Shiels for tips on how to make me better.”
Just using Rick Shiels as an example. In December of 2021, his YouTube page had 1.95 million subscribers. He now has 2.91 million subscribers. Nearly 50% growth in that time frame.
Here is a look at how big some golf-related YouTube channels have become.
Bryson had 400,000 YouTube subscribers just a year ago. He now has 1.58 million YouTube subscribers. He’s more than tripled his subscriber base in one year. And his most popular video has 13 million views. He has six videos that have over three million views a piece. Those are staggering numbers.
How do YouTube creators compare to professional golf? They are way bigger.
And professional golf tours are growing their channels, too. The PGA Tour had 795,000 subscribers in December of 2021. They now have 1.5 million subscribers — a 89% increase.
Their views have more than doubled in that timeframe, too.
The PGA Tour has seven videos with over 10 million views. Most are short-form content, whereas creators put out more long-form content.
People (and golfers) like watching golf-related content on YouTube. Maybe not everyone but millions of people enjoy it.
And golf is moving in that direction. We have seen two significant golf events in the last six months utilizing the YouTube creator and YouTube audience.
The Q at Myrtle Beach
The Creator Classic
The Myrtle Beach Classic leveraged YouTube to drive awareness to its inaugural PGA Tour event.
The tournament hosted The Q at Myrtle Beach — a qualifier for its PGA Tour event. Sixteen golfers competed for one qualifier spot in the tournament. The sixteen golfers were a mix of YouTube and professional golfers.
8 YouTube golfers
8 professional golfers
The event was played in early March and released on YouTube on April 23rd.
A qualifier for a PGA Tour event isn’t a nascent idea, as several PGA Tour events have Monday qualifiers.
But The Q at Myrtle Beach added two elements that haven’t been done before at PGA Tour qualifiers.
Video coverage of the event
YouTube golfers in the field
The video has 1 million views on the Play Golf Myrtle Beach YouTube channel. For context — the channel has 13,200 subscribers and rarely sees its videos receive over 1,000 views. The event did incredibly well from a numbers standpoint.
Google search term Myrtle Beach Golf had a score of 73 when the event was dropped on YouTube — 21 points higher than the same week in 2023.
The Creator Classic was played the week of the Tour Championship at East Lake. Sixteen YouTube creators played a nine-hole tournament at East Lake — the event was broadcast on live TV.
The video has now been viewed 2.5 million times on the PGA Tour’s YouTube page. It is the most popular long-form content the PGA Tour has produced on its YouTube page.
The Creator Classic was a huge success in terms of numbers and engagement.
What does all of this mean?
YouTube golf creators have been working on creating valuable content for years. The PGA Tour is now just leaning into it. And they are having enormous early success.
Golf’s demographic is shifting — it is becoming younger.
At the end of the day — the PGA Tour makes a bulk of its revenue via media rights deals. To increase future contracts, they need to show an increasing and engaged viewership of their tournaments.
If the PGA Tour believes that embracing YouTube content creators can increase TV viewership — they will do more of it.
Have a great Tuesday. We will talk to you next week!
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