The PGA Tour announced Friday the creation of a new “Creators Council,” welcoming up to 10 Internet golf personalities in ongoing discussions about possible rule changes and collaboration opportunities, as part of ‘a broader effort to speak to the millions of golf fans who don’t currently engage with professionals. events.
In August, the PGA Tour hosted 16 YouTubers during the inaugural Creator Classic, generating more than 5 million views on its own feed and participants’ posts. The contest doubled the PGA Tour record for new YouTube subscribers in one day. The median viewer was 32 years old, according to the organizer, while the average consumer of the PGA Tour’s overall audience on YouTube is 37 years old.
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“You can’t help but notice how the next generation of fans are engaging with YouTube,” said Andy Weitz, PGA Tour director of marketing and communications and executive vice president of investor relations, hired in June. “We want to meet them where they are. We want to understand what is engaging. We want them to connect with the tour on their own terms so we can all grow together.
The council body is expected to evolve over time, but at launch the tour works with:
The group will discuss future versions of the Creator Classic, as well as PGA Tour media regulations, event strategies, collaborative content opportunities and broader fan engagement initiatives. The tour also launched a Fan Forward process that involved speaking to approximately 50,000 consumers about how the professional circuit can adapt to today’s media world.
Lang, whose Random Golf Club has nearly 300,000 subscribers on YouTube, said only 20 to 25 percent of his audience watches professional competitions on television.
“What these golf creators have done that are on the Creators Council is they have made the content accessible, entertaining, inspiring and educational,” he said. “All told, these creators have a lot of power, and that’s obviously why we have a seat at the table.”
Spiranac alone has more followers on Instagram than Tiger Woods.
Golf is unique among American sports, as the game generates an estimated $100 billion in economic activity in the United States each year, thanks to more than 40 million participants. This bottom-up formulation allowed the creators to speak to everyday gamers.
Many have turned these connections into brand deals and merchandise trading. Steele reportedly leads the Creator Classic field with nine partnerships, including ties to Mastercard and United Airlines. Barstool golf personalities have even landed in PGA Tour 2k23 as playable characters.
But as they seek continued growth, these figures can still benefit from what the PGA Tour has to offer: a global stage, access to professional stars and major events, and connections to other businesses.
“It feels like there’s a deal that hasn’t been talked about or written down,” Lang said. “It’s not in the press release. It’s basically this agreement that, “Hey, we need each other. »
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