Sundays have not been kind to the PGA Tour in ‘17, as the Tour has not seen an increase in final-round, TV-only viewership dating back to the Farmer's Insurance Open in January. The Tour joins a growing list of sports properties to see a decline in audience in ‘17. Even the sport's top events this year have not been immune -- Sergio Garcia’s playoff triumph at The Masters was down 11% from last year, while Si Woo Kim’s victory at The Players was the event’s lowest final round since ’14. Dustin Johnson's wins in two WGC events also saw final-round declines over ’16. Both CBS Sports and NBC Sports declined to speak on the record on the issue, but the PGA Tour acknowledged an 11% weekend viewership decline over the first half of the season. The trend comes as a surprise to some in the golf community, but other industry observers cited a growing trend of digital viewers, wins by lesser-known players and the transition into the post-Tiger Woods era as reasons for the decline.
HERE AND NOW: Big-name players have had their share of success on Tour this season, including wins by Johnson, Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler. But fellow stars Phil Mickelson, Rory McIlroy and Jason Day have yet to join the winner’s circle. The Tour has also seen a number of first-time winners who casual viewers may not be familiar with. Bevilacqua Helfant Ventures co-Founder & CEO Chris Bevilacqua said that may be contributing to the viewership drop. “We live in a culture where we like stars," Bevilacqua said. "Consistency in winning can drive a certain level of passion. Whether you’ve got Arnie and Jack or Tiger and Phil, there needs to be a readily visible narrative developing. When you have newcomers and relatively unknown players winning tournaments, that’s going to show up in consumption reports.” Pilson Communications President Neal Pilson, the former president of CBS Sports, noted while there are plenty of good young players on Tour, the public likes to identify with a single athlete when it comes to golf. Longtime ESPN writer Bob Harig agreed golf is unlike other sports when it comes to parity. Harig: “Golf loves a guy who dominates. Whether they want to root for him or root for someone to take him down, that isn’t in the picture at the moment.”
THE TIGER FACTOR: Both Pilson and Bevilacqua agreed the Tour has officially entered an era of transition with Woods, losing a star who brought unprecedented levels of exposure to the game, along with his own hoard of fans following him closely at every turn. Woods stepped away from golf earlier this year to undergo another back procedure and was arrested last month for DUI. His return date to competitive golf is unknown. The Tour’s last final round viewership increase was actually at Torrey Pines, where Woods played but missed the cut. Bevilacqua: “Icons come and they go. Tiger has had his set of issues and now no one knows when we’ll see him again.” Pilson believes golf misses not only Woods’ winning ways, but also his marketability. While Spieth, Fowler, McIlroy and Day are big attractions among golf’s devoted followers, none has come close to moving the needle to the degree Woods did when healthy. Pilson: “We do miss Tiger Woods.” Harig said during Woods’ peak the “hope was that he would drag the casual fan along and get them to watch when he wasn’t around.” Harig: “We’ve seen now that really hasn’t been the case. Golf has a specific, small but passionate audience. It is what it is and what it always was before Tiger.” Colvin Sports Network Founder & President Bill Colvin, a veteran of the golf hospitality space, noted when Woods was winning majors at a consistent clip, it was easy for fans to keep track of the sport’s most popular player. Colvin: “Now there’s all the good young guys, but there’s so many to keep track of and all relatively speaking are inconsistent. There’s no momentum built on one storyline right now in golf.”
ALL IN THE SAME BOAT? The 18-week streak of lower Sunday viewership is certainly a concern for the Tour, but golf is by no means the only sport adjusting to the new media landscape. The NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL regular seasons were all down for their most recent campaigns in TV-only viewership, raising the question of whether this simply might be the new norm for live sports moving forward. While PGA Tour Exec VP/Global Business Affairs Ty Votaw acknowledged the decline in viewership, he said the Tour is encouraged by content consumption in regards to social media and digital. Total visits to PGATour.com this year are up 10%, while PGATour Live subscribers (+33%) and streams (+42%) are also up. CBS and NBC/Golf Channel’s combined live streams are up 16% this year, and the Tour’s social channels have grown by 36% over last year. "It’s not as if our fans aren’t consuming our content,” Votaw said. However, he conceded social and digital viewing "are our snacks, and the TV product is our meal.” Harig wondered if the various streaming options now available to fans could be affecting TV viewership, though he stressed that would not fully account for a lengthy decline. Colvin is curious if the Tour’s television viewership numbers tell the whole story. Colvin: “The move from the traditional ‘I’m gonna sit on the couch on Sunday afternoon and watch TV’ is waning dramatically. ... To get a good sense of what’s happening we may have to revisit how we traditionally rank sports viewership.”
THE AGE FACTOR: A recent SportsBusiness Journal study found that the average age of a PGA Tour viewer was 64 in ’16, up from 59 in ’06. Votaw in that piece noted the median age for visitors to PGATour.com was 55, while the average age for viewers of its PGATour Live product was 20 years younger than that of its viewers on broadcast TV. As for its digital platforms, Pilson said golf “probably isn’t getting a bump” because its core audience is “older than almost any other sport.” Pilson: “I’ve yet to see a 60-year-old checking his mobile phone for the golf telecast. My guess is that the benefits that digital is providing for leagues like the NFL and NBA isn’t accruing for golf.”
COULD WE BE OVERREACTING? Despite the viewership decline, Harig was quick to point out golf remains a healthy and vibrant sport across the board. He cited FedEx’ recent 10-year sponsorship renewal for the Tour’s four-event playoff series through ’27. “There’s a reason that the FedEx’ of the world put up the kind of money that they do. It’s not because of the masses tuning in, it’s because they are reaching their demographic. I don’t see that changing, but the viewership dip is odd, and maybe worrisome.” PGA of America President Paul Levy was also bullish on golf’s future growth despite the viewership dip. He said, “We’ve seen in the last two years, rounds played are up, the first time that’s happened in eight or nine years. Junior golf participation is seeing significant growth.”
