Driving Engagement: Can Full Swing Increase PGA Tour Views?

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Hey Golfers —

The National Golf Foundation reports there were 45 million total golf participants in the United States in 2023. The R&A global golf participation study concluded there were 61 million golf participants in 2022 — not including the United States and Mexico.

CBS averaged 2.21 million television viewers for its 42 PGA Tour telecasts in 2023 — up 1% vs 2022. While ratings fluctuate in tournaments due to field and weather — final-round telecasts of a PGA Tour event generally fall between 2 and 5 million viewers.

Essentially, 7% of golf participants watch professional golf on television.

Depending on how they view it, the PGA Tour and its media partners view this as a problem or an incredible opportunity to increase viewership.

Imagine a funnel with 45 million golf participants at the top and three million at the bottom. The three million represent people who watch PGA Tour golf on television.

The Masters is the gold standard golf tournament for many reasons. It is the most watched golf event in the United States every year — and there isn’t a close second.

So here is an interesting comparison utilizing Masters final round viewership, total U.S. golf participants, and total rounds played.

In 2012 — there were 29 million golf participants. And 13.5 million people watched the final round of the Masters. Under 500 million rounds were played.

In 2022 — there were over 40 million golf participants. And 10.2 million people watched the final round of the Masters. Around 520 million rounds of golf were played.

It is important to note that golf viewership isn’t just a PGA Tour-related issue.

The Masters has seen a steady decline in viewership. The last time final round coverage touched 14 million viewers was in 2015 — from 1997 to 2014, viewership exceeded 14 million nine times. And 2022 and 2021 were the lowest years (outside of 2020) since 1997. 

Last year, the Masters did see a nice jump in final-round viewership to 12.1 million — the most since 2018.

The golf world has seen an inverse relationship between golf participation and television viewership.

This problem that needs solving is a marketer’s dream. There is an engaged audience participating in the sport. Now, we need to get them to watch the tournaments.

Can the Netflix docuseries Full Swing help spur an increase in television viewership?

Season one aired in early 2023 and was watched for 53.1 million hours through June 2023. Despite its release in mid-February, the eight-episode series was the 267th most-watched title in the first six months of 2023. More than 18,000 titles were included in the report.

Full Swing did well on Netflix — here is how it stacked up against other sports docuseries.

• Drive to Survive (Formula 1): 90.5 million hours

• Point Break (Tennis): 30.5 million hours

Television viewership appeared to see an initial bump after Full Swing was released in 2023.

Here is a look at the 2023 numbers from January — April.

• NBC was up 3% in viewership

• CBS was up 4% in viewership

• Golf Channel was up 15% in viewership

CBS couldn’t sustain the 4% increase as it finished the year up 1% in viewership.

The Honda Classic and WGC Matchplay each saw four-year highs in viewership, and the Valspar saw a five-year high.

And the PGA Tour had some interesting nuggets.

The PGA Tour saw an 8% increase in digital traffic to its website in the first quarter of 2023. Social traffic saw a considerable increase in video views—up 31% versus the previous year. 

ESPN didn’t disclose ESPN+ numbers — but they stated that viewership was up significantly for the first three months of 2023.

Full Swing certainly brought awareness and drew initial demand for taking an interest in professional golf, whether by watching a PGA Tour event on television or consuming video content on the PGA Tour’s YouTube page.

The social video views increase the PGA Tour saw is interesting to me. Last year, I wrote about the role that YouTube and independent media is playing in golf.

Subscriber growth has exploded in the last year.

• Rick Shiels — added 300,000 subscribers. Grew more than 10%

• Good Good — added 400,000 subscribers. Grew more than 30%

• Bob Does Sports — added 330,000 subscribers. Nearly doubled.

People love consuming golf content on YouTube. Rick Shiels and Good Good even have more YouTube subscribers than the PGA Tour.

So, does Full Swing solve the problem of turning golfers into avid watchers of professional golf? No, but it is part of the puzzle and has certainly helped.

There isn’t one golden nugget that converts the 45 million golfers in the United States to television watchers. It is a complex, multi-faceted problem. I am not sure anyone has the answer.

I am fairly certain of one thing. In conversations with people who are smarter than me, the friction in professional golf is not helping television viewership. If the PGA Tour and LIV come together, it will be interesting to see how it impacts television viewership.

Have yourself a great Monday. Talk to you next week!

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