LIV Golf Sees Ratings Increase After Move to Offer First Rounds Free on YouTube
LIV Golf Sees Ratings Increase After Move to Offer First Rounds Free on YouTube
LIV’s Chief Media Officer Will Staeger called streaming a ‘critical’ part of the league’s future when discussing the ratings.
There haven’t been many updates on the merger of LIV Golf and the PGA Tour recently. The two golf leagues agreed to merge into a global golf organization in June 2023, but that proposal still hangs in the balance. But while fans wait for more information about whether the merger will go through or not, Sports Business Journal has a new report detailing increases in LIV Golf ratings, and how video streaming platforms have helped the sport to grow its audience.
- Ratings are up for several LIV Golf events in 2024 as compared to 2023.
- In a change this year, LIV has made the first rounds of its tournaments available live on YouTube.
- LIV Golf events are also available to stream on The CW’s digital app and the LIV Golf+ service.
The data provided by LIV and YouTube to SBJ counts a YouTube viewer as someone who intentionally clicks on a video and watches for 30 seconds or more, much different than traditional Nielsen rating metrics. The totals include viewers who watch live or on-demand, from both YouTube and LIV Golf+. Totals also incorporate pre and post-round shows which begin 30 minutes before play begins and end 30 minutes after the last stroke.
LIV’s season-opening tournament in Mexico from Feb. 2 to Feb. 4 attracted 3.5 million viewers on LIV Golf+ and YouTube. By comparison, the 2023 edition of the season opener in Mexico drew in 1.36 million viewers, suggesting that the league more than doubled its audience for its debut tournament.
The second LIV tournament of the year in Las Vegas pulled 3.03 million viewers across three days of action, whereas the second event of the 2023 LIV season attracted 1.12 million. Even international events in which action took place when American audiences were mostly asleep saw their ratings climb: The March 1-3 tournament in Jeddah saw 2.25 million people tune in, an increase from the 1.26 million fans who watched LIV’s third tournament of 2023 despite the fact that that event was held in Orlando.
Why Are LIV’s Ratings Climbing?
LIV’s chief media officer Will Staeger gave much of the credit for LIV’s successful 2024 campaign to this point to its expanding direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming options. The LIV Golf+ app launched in February 2023, but it seems to be gaining more traction this season.
“Direct-to-consumer is such a critical part of the future, for viewership in sports, not just with live and not just with golf, but in particular with a younger demographic, a more diverse demographic,” Staeger said. “It is part of the growth curve that we set out to help grow the sport for the long term.”
The expansion of availability of LIV Golf+ to more smart TV platforms no doubt lent to the increase in audience size for LIV Golf tournaments this year. In October 2023, the streamer became available on Samsung and Roku-manufactured TVs for the first time; these are some of the largest device manufacturers in the world, accounting for hundreds of millions of TVs sold globally.
However, the biggest single reason for the expanded LIV Golf ratings this year could be the move to offer opening rounds on YouTube for free. In 2023, the first six events of the LIV season did not stream free on YouTube, so the golf league could promote LIV Golf+. But that has changed this season, and viewers can now access LIV Golf content on a video platform that draws more viewers per month than Netflix or any other subscription streaming service, according to Nielsen. Only the first rounds of these tournaments are available free on YouTube, while the second and third rounds shift to LIV Golf+ and The CW app.
Streaming isn’t the only medium on which LIV ratings are increasing. But tournaments appearing on The CW are drawing viewers in the hundreds of thousands, not in the millions. That suggests that a large percentage of LIV ratings are generated by streaming customers, though the league has not revealed how many viewers are watching on its LIV Golf+ app and how many are streaming first rounds on YouTube.
LIV Golf Plus
LIV Golf Plus is the streaming service for the controversial golf league owned by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund. The app provides live video coverage for every 2023 event, as well as highlights from prior tournaments. On launch day, at least, we could not fast-forward or rewind while watching tournament replays.