The Legends Tour has become the number one golf Tour on YouTube, surpassing 1.75 million subscribers. The increase sees the over-50’s Tour overtake the PGA Tour for top spot in the subscriber stakes on the online video platform.
Last week the Legends Tour staged its flagship event, the Staysure PGA Seniors Championship hosted by Colin Montgomerie, at Trump International Golf Links. Across the week there were over 1.9 million views of Legends Tour videos, including more than 888,000 views of the final round highlights which gained great engagement, also receiving more than 17,000 likes.
Of the 1.75 million subscribers to the Legends Tour channel, 42% of viewers are 55+, with 48% in the 25-54 age bracket. The viewership is made up of 65% male and 35% female.
Speaking about the move to the top of the golf Tour table on YouTube, Legends Tour CEO Ryan Howsam said: “It’s brilliant that we’ve reached the milestone of becoming the top golf Tour on YouTube, now we need to build upon this. Legends Tour is truly global with a cast list of some of the most successful golfers to have played the sport in the past 40 years. We now go to Vietnam, India, Zambia, across Europe as well as the UK and USA. We’re a global business and that’s why we are appealing to golf fans and sponsors internationally.
“When I initially took over the Legends Tour my vision was to go after the over 50’s market, it was clear to me that it wasn’t being marketed properly – the legends of the game weren’t being put front and centre of the Tour. Our Tour has players from all over the world and covers four continents in our schedule of tournaments.
“If you take last week’s flagship event, the Staysure PGA Seniors Championship, you’ve got four Ryder Cup captains, six major winners, numerous other Ryder Cup players and many more winners – that’s something to shout about! We’ve got so many players on this Tour who are household names. Many of our fans grew up watching and supporting these great players, now they continue to follow their progress and want to see more interviews and action from them via our social media and digital channels.”
Howsam added: “We’ve built on unique assets such as the Legends Tour playing experiences and the 12 million established travelling database with Staysure, the largest travel insurer in the UK, which is resulting in sponsors coming on board, but also governments and tourist boards are really starting to take notice. The tourist boards know that the team we’ve put together, what they do around tournaments when we’re in resort is getting significant traction and that is a big win for our partners.”
So far this year there has been more than 4.6 million views of Legends Tour content on YouTube with organic traffic generating 47% (1 January to 31 July 2024) of the total watch time, highlighting a high level of natural interest and engagement in the brand.
In 2024, the top three performing videos all came from the Tour’s flagship event, the Staysure PGA Seniors Championship.
Chief Marketing Officer for the Legends Tour, Keith Mitchell, is proud of the growth of the brand and social media channels, such as YouTube: “This is a lucrative niche market which was just waiting for someone to come in and develop. Owning the digital space and using video content to tell our story and engage new fans was a key objective from the start.
“To reach specific audiences and maximise the relevance and effectiveness of content, paid media campaigns are used to amplify visibility. This ensures that material hits a broader audience who may not have otherwise been aware of Legends Tour and compliments the organic success of the channel. This balance helps to ensure sustained growth and engagement, especially in our emerging markets.
“A worldwide Tour with players such as Angel Cabrera and Jeev Milkha Singh helps drive the outreach to new territories such as Argentina and India – Milkha Singh will be hosting a Legends Tour event in India at the end of August. A global product, with global players.
“We started this journey four years ago with the first step of looking at the content teams and how we can break down the silos across digital, social and TV content to provide a more efficient production and delivery process that results in golf fans getting high quality content via their chosen platform. This streamlined process allows us to put more resource on the distribution and acquisition of new viewers and grow the Legends Tour brand globally. This milestone is a compliment to all the team and shows that all our hard work is paying off.”
