Discovery Communications has acquired the Golf Digest magazine brand for $35 million to add to its content partnership with Tigers Woods and the PGA Tour, which includes the GolfTV streaming service.
The Golf Digest acquisition extends the cable channel group’s growing multiplatform distribution and reach in the golf game worldwide. “Through our investments with the PGA Tour, the European Tour and our partnership with Tiger Woods, we wanted to bolster GolfTV’s international offerings with Golf Digest’s award-winning journalism, broad consumer reach and deep content library while also creating the largest U.S. digital golf business,” Discovery CEO David Zaslav said in a statement.
Discovery’s GolfTV offers exclusive carriage of the PGA Tour and other global pro tours outside the U.S., in addition to a content partnership with Tiger Woods, who recently won the U.S. Masters tournament. Despite the PGA Tour airing on CBS and NBC in the U.S., the Golf Digest acquisition offers a domestic advertising play for Discovery’s expanding global golf ecosystem and partnership with the PGA Tour.
Sales teams for Golf Digest and the PGA Tour are set to jointly sell ad inventory in the U.S. market for their respective media platforms. “The organizations will deepen their partnership and join forces to create the largest digital network in golf with a one-stop activation platform, now including Golf Digest, for advertisers to engage with fans and players,” Discovery said in a statement.
The deal for Golf Digest also extends Discovery’s broader strategy to create consumer ecosystems for “superfans” around other sports like cycling, or consumer interests like food and home and gardens.
“GolfTV is another example of where we have strengthened our content offerings with the best talent, most valuable IP and strong global programming…. The sport of golf is on fire globally, and our timing couldn’t be better,” Zaslav said last week on an analyst call after the release of his company’s first quarter results.
