The day before Scottie Scheffler,
The nine-hole exhibition featured 16 content creators in a made-for-TV event that the Tour hoped would attract a new audience to the Tour Championship, and the results were 2.5 million views on YouTube and 2,000,000 views on YouTube. Another 8 million on various other platforms. The event was so successful that the circuit created the “Council of Creators”.
“The board is an example of how the Tour is evolving and it starts with our fans,” said Andy Weitz, the Tour’s director of marketing and communications/investor relations. “When the classic happened we said wow, this is a moment. We took a step back and said: let’s build on these events. Let’s learn on tour how we can be better.
The council will include select creators – Bob Does Sports, Bryan Bros Golf, Erik Anders Lang, Fore Play/Barstool Sports, No Laying Up, Paige Spiranac, Roger Steele and Tisha Alyn – and will meet three times a year.
“We are going to look at collaborative content, what can we create together? There may be cases where the Tour has a point of view that helps us create content that creators want to be a part of,” said Weitz, who added that the council would “evolve.” “The goal of the board is to explore that and what works best for our fans.”
The council will develop future versions of Creator Classic as well as fan engagement strategies, collaborative content opportunities, media regulations and event broadcast enhancements.
The creation of the council is part of the Tour’s “Fan Forward” project which began this summer.
“It goes back to the data we collect,” Weitz said. “This summer, we launched the largest awareness campaign in PGA Tour history. We learn that fandom begins with the telephone. Fans need to be able to find content that engages them.
While the board will focus on bringing new audiences to the game, Weitz said the Tour will continue to refine the product’s presentation for more traditional fans.
“This approach is designed to be additive,” he said. “No one should feel left out. Our job is to find the right balance and do it with respect for today’s audience.
