LET has to compete for airtime in a very crowded space on weekends both against men’s golf and other sports.
We want to promote women’s golf and women’s sport in general, and therefore live broadcast is vital for our strategy of growth. But it is especially difficult when it comes to the window for live events to squeeze LET live broadcasts into the few slots available.
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In all aspects of our business we aim to find new, innovative solutions.
While in a very traditional sport such as golf, a Wednesday finish was at first a very odd idea [it first occurred at the tour’s Turkish Airlines Ladies Open, which ran Sunday-Wednesday in May], the concept was very soon embraced by all major TV broadcasters.
It gives some impetus to our commercial program. Our commercial partners are excited about our willingness to innovate and find new pathways.
The initial feedback from our fans on social media has been brilliant. Our players were fundamental to spreading the word. Each of them has their own networks, across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter particularly.
Anecdotal evidence in the form of conversations with our major TV broadcast partners was also very positive feedback. The written press coverage was entirely positive as was the feedback from journalists.
As you’d expect, we will carry out a full review of the experiment. We get back exact TV figures from our data research partner, Repucom, six weeks after the tournament, and that will kick-start a more comprehensive look at the data.
We use a complex matrix where we measure LET’s exposure, fan following and brand value.
We can put a dollar value behind some figures, and in other cases we consider them as intangible indicators of growth. We plan to collect data around media exposure of our players too. But this is a major undertaking and one of our future projects.
The prospect of presenting women’s golf to billions of viewers during the Olympic Games is a unique promotional opportunity for the women’s game. Such a showcase to a wide audience will raise its profile and popularity, which naturally would bring greater commercial benefits to the sport.
One additional key benefit, which is often overlooked, is the funding Olympic sports receive from governments and national sport authorities, which golf has not benefited from in the past. Such public funding will certainly boost the development of women’s golf in many regions of the world that we might consider less traditional golf markets.
Sport reflects a picture of the society in which it exists. The determination to provide an equal voice to women in all aspects of society — in politics, business and culture, and so forth — we see now also in sport.
In golf, the difference in athletic performance between the genders is marginal, which is highlighted by the new generation of data measurement tools.
I would argue that the excitement and beauty of the sport is equal to the men’s game, and in terms of viewership and the media value created by women’s golf, there should be greater equality in the share of revenues generated from sponsorships and TV revenues.
It’s the duty of all major women’s tours to demonstrate the commercial value of the game, much of which is going untapped. Only that way will we narrow the gap in the share of sponsorship and TV rights dollars. There are good signs, and there’s more to do.
The media value for men’s golf, for example, is around twice that of the women’s game. But the sponsorship deals struck are routinely 10 times more valuable on the men’s tours.
If it isn’t based in measurement terms, what accounts for the difference? The media value argument for women’s sport is not about reality. It is driven by out-of-date perceptions, not quantifiable research.
It’s a self-perpetuating thing. The lower the published figures as to the proportion of total spend on women’s sport, the less compelling women’s sport appears to some would-be sponsors.
Sometimes the execution is also questionable. The underlying message is sometimes that by “supporting” women’s sport, brands are vying to be seen as a good citizen, putting their money to a “good cause.”
This is not how sponsors talk about the NFL or NBA. The story around these properties is more focused on the commercial value extracted by the sponsor. This is how we talk to our partners at LET. This is good business. There’s a strong business case for women’s golf.
