Live Golf, the meaning of the U.S. TV viewership loss

It was quite predictable that the LIV golf season opener, sponsored by Saudi Arabia’s oil money, was completely defeated in the U.S. TV viewer ratings competition with the American Professional Golf (PGA) Tour.

This is because the purpose of a contract for TV broadcasting rights cannot be achieved just by playing it on any channel. In a world overflowing with things to see such as OTT on Netflix, Liv Golf neglected the fact that a more important factor is how convenient consumers are exposed to the channels they watch.

According to Nielsen, an American ratings research company, 291,000 viewers were recorded in the final round of the Opening Day of the Live Golf League, and the average viewership was 286,000. The average number of viewers for the PGA Tour Honda Classic held during the same period was 1.6 million, and the final day was 2.4 million.

The two competitions differed by 5 times from the average viewership rating, and the Sunday game by 8 times. The number of people who watched live golf on the last day was less than the number of viewers (316,000) of American women’s college basketball broadcast on ESPN 2.

Live Golf is trying a different way of golf tournaments, such as shorts and shotguns

. The number of people who watched the broadcast on the Peacock and Live Golf platforms was excluded,” he predicted, saying that the difference in actual ratings could have been greater.

Live Golf, held in Mayakoba, Mexico, featured star players such as Dustin Johnson, Cameron Smith, Brooks Koepka, and Phil Mickelson, while World No. , and Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland), most of the top players were absent. Among the participating players, the highest ranking was Lim Seong-jae (25) in 18th place.

In terms of prize money alone, Liv Golf had a total prize money of $25 million and the individual prize money was $4 million, and the Honda Classic had a total prize money of $8.4 million and $1.512 million. Live golf was played in Mexico, so the time zone was not a problem. The time slot was the same, the prize money was only 1/3, and there were far fewer famous players, so why did the viewer ratings increase 5-8 times?

Awareness and propagation power of a broadcasting channel, and viewers’ viewing habits are important considerations in ratings. Golf fans tend to watch familiar channels. Live Golf was in a hurry to sign a contract for broadcasting rights and forgot about it. Headquartered in Burbank, California, CW Network was established in 2006 as a joint venture between CBS and Warner Bros., and Nexta Media Group acquired a 75% stake last year. It is known to have about 200 affiliates in the United States, but CW is a channel mainly viewed by teenagers, so it was far from golfers.

The Honda Classic ended with an extended match between Eric Cole and Chris Kirk

. Last year, the first year of its launch, broadcasting videos were broadcast free of charge through its own Internet homepage and YouTube, but this year Liv desperately needed a channel to broadcast throughout the United States. It was thought that only then would corporate sponsors come in and the tour would take root.

Live Golf, which was rejected by the existing major broadcasters, was unable to negotiate with TV broadcasters such as Fox Sports, which might be friendly. In the end, I signed a contract with CW in January, but there was no broadcasting rights fee, and it was a contract to share advertising fees. In addition, there was a problem with the way the competition was relayed. During the three-day competition, the first day was broadcast on the CW app, and only two days on the weekend were broadcast on TV. As a result, broadcast exposure was inconsistent. 먹튀검증

It will be a problem in the future because of the hasty broadcasting contract. Among the 14 tournaments scheduled for this year, matches to be held in five countries, Australia, Singapore, Spain, England, and Saudi Arabia, have decided to be delayed in the US market. Only games in North America will be broadcast live on the CW from 1-6pm on weekends. The winner has already been revealed and the results have come out, but the broadcast is delayed.

Broadcasting of live golf tournaments in the US is also bleak. It is held during intermediate events of the PGA Tour, such as the Valspar Championship and the Valero Texas Open in mid-March. It was a trick of its own to avoid competing in ratings with the PGA Tour special tournaments, but it was a twist from the first step as it failed at the Honda Classic, which seemed to be the weakest.

It was quite predictable that the LIV golf season opener, sponsored by Saudi Arabia’s oil money, was completely defeated in the U.S. TV viewer ratings competition with the American Professional Golf (PGA) Tour. This is because the purpose of a contract for TV broadcasting rights cannot be achieved just by playing it on any channel. In…