Golf's Independent Media Explosion
Every Monday, I write a newsletter breaking down the business in golf. Welcome to the 15 new Perfect Putt members who have joined us since our last newsletter. Join 9,650 intelligent and curious golfers by subscribing below.
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Hey Golfers —
YouTube users average 694,000 hours of video streamed every minute — over 50% higher than Netflix. In December, YouTube accounted for 8.5% of total watch time on television, more than streaming services Netflix and Disney+.
Platforms like Substack and Beehiiv make it incredibly simple to write online. Beehiiv was responsible for 4.5 billion emails sent in 2023. And as of last June — Beehiiv had over 35 million unique readers.
The point is that it has never been easier to leverage different platforms to create engaging content.
Perfect Putt is incredibly niche and relatively small from a subscriber standpoint. I didn’t have a following or media experience when I started the newsletter nearly three years ago.
Content creators have flocked to create golf-related content. And people are watching — millions of people.
We conducted a quick survey on X to better understand the landscape. Keep in mind that this is a survey on X that doesn’t use traditional survey methods.
Do you watch golf-related content on YouTube? (1,059 responses)
Yes — 64%
No — 36%
If Yes — how many hours do you watch per month? (485 responses)
0-4 hours — 52%
5-9 hours — 24%
10-14 hours — 12%
>14 hours — 12%
YouTube has allowed content creators to build massive audiences that have become viable advertising opportunities.
Golfers have consumed billions of hours of golf-related content on YouTube.
For context — here are the numbers for four of the professional tours.
PGA Tour — 1.38 million
DP World Tour — 456,000
LIV Golf — 347,000
LPGA Tour — 205,000
While YouTube subscribers are important — video views are far more significant a data point.
Each channel has at least one video with over 1 million views. Good Good has a video with 8.7 million views. For perspective, the U.S. Open has not seen 8.7 million views on a Sunday since 2012.
Good Good is relatively new to YouTube, starting its channel in 2020. But 106 videos have at least 1 million views—over 20% of its videos.
Good Good has a brand partnership with Callaway. The partnership offers Callaway an enormous platform to introduce products to viewers.
It is not apples to apples — but here is an interesting benchmark. The USGA’s media deal with NBC is reportedly around $100 million annually for the U.S. Open.
An interesting note about Good Good’s 8.7 million views video — it was three hours long. Some people likely consumed that content over multiple days. However, length did not prohibit it from being the most watched video on the channels above.
So what about growth? Every channel has seen double-digit subscriber growth — three channels have grown over 50% in the last year.
Golf tours are seeing growth on their YouTube channels as well.
LPGA — 51%
LIV Golf — 30%
DP World Tour — 21%
PGA Tour — 20%
Golfers love consuming golf-related content on YouTube. And equipment companies have noticed. Several channels had equipment sponsorships.
Good Good — Callaway
Bob Does Sports — Callaway
Fore Play — Taylor Made
No Laying Up — Titleist
While I believe golf equipment companies aren’t necessarily spending more marketing dollars to partner with independent media companies. Instead, they are shifting their marketing dollars around and spending less in some areas.
Now — YouTube isn’t the only platform that matters in the independent media world.
Golfers’ Journal is one of the best media companies in sports. Golfer’s Journal is zigging while everyone else is zagging. While most people say print media is dead — Golfers Journal is thriving with its quarterly print edition. They, too, have a partnership with Titleist.
Independent media creators who do not have traditional media backgrounds are doing exceptionally well in the golf space. And it will only continue to grow.
They offer incredible partnership value to equipment companies as the channels build a high level of trust and authority with their audience. I am a big fan of leveraging an audience.
Have yourself a great Monday. Talk to you next week!
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Here in the PNW, Cascade Golfer is an outstanding quarterly print publication. They also have a digital email presence as well.
Worth noting that CCA's subscriber count is suspicious given the very low view counts on recent videos.