Netflix Meets the PGA Tour
22 PGA Tour players have agreed to an all-access docuseries.
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Hey Golfers -
Netflix officially announced a docuseries with PGA Tour players. Twenty-Three players have agreed to be filmed, including five of the top ten players in the world.
Let’s dive into it.
The PGA Tour had floated the concept of an all-access docuseries since 2019, and Netflix officially greenlit the project with the PGA Tour last summer.
Landing a deal with Netflix is significant for the PGA Tour and golf as a whole. Netflix has enormous distribution, which can introduce new fans to the game. Netflix has 214 million subscribers, and Netflix is believed to have 580 million viewers or 7.5% of the world’s population.
A staggering 20% of the combined United States and Canadian population subscribe to Netflix, and there are 178 million viewers in the United States alone or 53% of the population.
The craziest stat? Netflix is available in 190+ countries.
A look at Netflix’s regional numbers.
U.S. & Canada subscribers: 74 million
EMEA subscribers: 69 million
LATAM subscribers: 39 million
APAC subscribers: 28 million
The Netflix data is optimistic for the success of the docuseries and introducing fans to the game. What’s even better is the recent R&A global golf report. According to the report, Europe has seen the most significant five-year growth at 34%, with 10.6 million golfers, and there are 66.6 million golfers globally.
Europe’s surging golf growth equaled with the second largest region of Netflix subscribers could be a recipe for success.
The players that will be featured in the docuseries?
Dustin Johnson
Sergio Garcia
Jordan Spieth
Bubba Watson
Justin Thomas
Rickie Fowler
Kevin Na
Brooks Koepka
Ian Poulter
Tony Finau
Xander Schauffele
Daniel Berger
Collin Morikawa
Abraham Ancer
Tommy Fleetwood
Viktor Hovland
Max Homa
Joel Dahmen
Matt Fitzpatrick
Cameron Champ
Harry Higgs
Mito Pereira
Keita Nakajima (Amateur)
An impressive list for the first season. Other players may be featured as filming progresses. A handful of interesting statistics of the 23 players.
$565 million in combined PGA Tour earnings
120 combined PGA Tour wins
15 combined majors
49 combined Ryder Cup appearances
19 combined Presidents Cup appearances
The PGA Tour is taking inspiration from Formula 1’s “Drive to Survive” docuseries.
The “Drive to Survive” has been a catalyst for growth for Formula 1 in the United States. The show debuted in 2019 with ten episodes providing an all-access look at Formula 1 Drivers and team members. Eight out of ten teams participated; Mercedes and Ferrari opted out, as they felt they had too much to lose.
Why is it of importance Mercedes and Ferrari opted out?
“Drive to Survive” was wildly successful without two prominent teams
Mercedes and Ferrari opted to be filmed in the second season
“Drive to Survive” has provided tremendous growth to Formula 1 in the United States. In 2018, before the first season was released, TV viewership averaged 547,000 per race. That number jumped to 928,000 in 2021, a 70% growth.
But the positive data doesn’t stop there for Formula 1. The average fan dropped from 36 to 32 years old — golf is undoubtedly interested in lowering the average fan age. From 2006 to 2016, the PGA Tour’s average fan increased by five years to 64 years old.
Additionally, Formula 1 is adding a race in the United States in 2022 in Miami. The lone United States race saw 400,000 fans in Austin, Texas in 2021, a record.
The success and growth of Formula 1 in the United States aren’t solely on “Drive to Survive”; however, it was a key driver. It is essential to understand that the growth took time. “Drive to Survive” started filming in 2018 and is now seeing massive success because of it. There is also the chance of no positive correlation between Formula 1 and the PGA Tour with a Netflix docuseries.
I am excited and cautiously optimistic to see this unfold over the coming years. Netflix will be providing content we’ve never seen before to an enormous audience.
Have yourself a Monday, talk to you next week!
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