• by Tanya Gazdik , May 23, 2024

The PGA Tour is extending its deal with X to offer real-time highlights and videos from golf evens to users on the media platform. 

“The partnership comes as other tech giants also venture into sports programming as a way to boost membership,” according to Bloomberg. 

The tour first signed with Twitter in 2016 to stream rounds live during the first two events of that year’s FedExCup Playoffs. That expanded to having live coverage on Twitter during every event of the 2019 season.

“When the tour returned to play in June of 2020 from the pandemic, it partnered with the platform for Twitter Multicasts, in which celebrities and other personalities came on the air to commentate on PGA Tour Live content,” according to Sports Business Journal. “The tour began participating in the Twitter Amplify program as far back as 2015 that allows advertisers to sponsor tour content. X said that last year, 'golf talk' on the platform had over 17.2 billion impressions."

X CEO Linda Yaccarino announced the partnership, saying the exclusive deal will give golf fans exactly what they want on the social media platform.

“The partnership comes on the heels of X’s deal with the NFL, which the company renewed last month,” according to The Washington Times. “The deal doesn’t allow for streaming NFL games on X but provides extensive clips and game coverage. X’s deal with the PGA Tour could look similar.”

The move comes as the PGA Tour tries to deal with the competition of the Saudi-backed LIV Golf league, which began in 2022.  

“Many of its players defected, and the repercussions of it have been faced to date,” according to Essentially Sports. “This year, the viewership of the tour events has been down by almost 20%. Many regular events have witnessed massive drops in broadcast numbers, especially on the first and final days.”