Mel Smooth
Hacker
This is a solid summation of why people ate being misled on what rates as success for LIV
#LIVGolf isn’t going to have PGA Tour equivalent US TV ratings this year, next year, or in the years after that.
We can learn a lot more about the people saying it’s a definitive failure because of that than we can about LIV Golf.
The tours ratings are the cornerstone of their product. The PGA Tour hosts 44 events per year with hundreds of sponsors and nearly half of their tournament related revenue comes from their TV deal. This revenue, coupled with sponsor deals, rely heavily on their tv ratings.
They have the same broadcast windows, on the same channels, showing what is largely the same product, for decades. They’ve built their product and scheduled their tournaments around maximizing the US TV viewership. Their entire model depends on it. 40+ times a year for years on end they are in the exact same broadcast windows on the exact same channels.
That’s not the case with LIV. They aren’t trying to maximize US TV viewership, the schedule would look vastly different if they were. Is it some part of the equation? Do they want viewership in the US to increase? Sure, of course they do, but it’s not their model and if it isn’t happening yet it’s not a sign they’ve failed. They’re leveraging international marketing budgets, utilizing capital from tourism boards, broadcasting in as many countries as possible to maximize integrated advertising. None of the LIV Golf model relies on traditional US viewership and that’s why they haven’t built the product around maximizing that.
After seeing three years of comparing the PGA Tour’s and LIV Golf’s viewership numbers it’s clear it’s just become a media strategy. One entity has had the same exact broadcast windows 40+ times a year for decades on end and works tirelessly to maximize viewership within those. The other hosts 14 events sprinkled throughout the year in varying timezones broadcasting on different channels.
Miami is LIV Golf’s next event, the first event broadcasting on network TV in traditional the traditional golf viewing period for the US. The numbers will be less than the PGA Tours from that week. Because it’s a different product and a different model.
Everybody will be using this as definitive proof of LIV Golf’s failure, ignoring everything I just stated above. When they do this, I like to think about why they so badly want me to believe them. Think about why they’re so adamant in their proclamations, why they never contextualize or discuss any of the differentiators in the two entities. Stop falling for the “Look at this thing! They’re failing! We’re doing great and they’re dying!” If all of that were true they wouldn’t feel the need to scream it from the rooftops anytime they got a split second of airtime.
#LIVGolf isn’t going to have PGA Tour equivalent US TV ratings this year, next year, or in the years after that.
We can learn a lot more about the people saying it’s a definitive failure because of that than we can about LIV Golf.
The tours ratings are the cornerstone of their product. The PGA Tour hosts 44 events per year with hundreds of sponsors and nearly half of their tournament related revenue comes from their TV deal. This revenue, coupled with sponsor deals, rely heavily on their tv ratings.
They have the same broadcast windows, on the same channels, showing what is largely the same product, for decades. They’ve built their product and scheduled their tournaments around maximizing the US TV viewership. Their entire model depends on it. 40+ times a year for years on end they are in the exact same broadcast windows on the exact same channels.
That’s not the case with LIV. They aren’t trying to maximize US TV viewership, the schedule would look vastly different if they were. Is it some part of the equation? Do they want viewership in the US to increase? Sure, of course they do, but it’s not their model and if it isn’t happening yet it’s not a sign they’ve failed. They’re leveraging international marketing budgets, utilizing capital from tourism boards, broadcasting in as many countries as possible to maximize integrated advertising. None of the LIV Golf model relies on traditional US viewership and that’s why they haven’t built the product around maximizing that.
After seeing three years of comparing the PGA Tour’s and LIV Golf’s viewership numbers it’s clear it’s just become a media strategy. One entity has had the same exact broadcast windows 40+ times a year for decades on end and works tirelessly to maximize viewership within those. The other hosts 14 events sprinkled throughout the year in varying timezones broadcasting on different channels.
Miami is LIV Golf’s next event, the first event broadcasting on network TV in traditional the traditional golf viewing period for the US. The numbers will be less than the PGA Tours from that week. Because it’s a different product and a different model.
Everybody will be using this as definitive proof of LIV Golf’s failure, ignoring everything I just stated above. When they do this, I like to think about why they so badly want me to believe them. Think about why they’re so adamant in their proclamations, why they never contextualize or discuss any of the differentiators in the two entities. Stop falling for the “Look at this thing! They’re failing! We’re doing great and they’re dying!” If all of that were true they wouldn’t feel the need to scream it from the rooftops anytime they got a split second of airtime.
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