Greg Norman Shuts Down Viewership Backlash With Harsh PGA Tour Comparison: ‘Oldest Aging Demographic’

For Greg Norman, getting criticized for LIV Golf is nothing new. However, ever since DeChambeau won a major event of the PGA Tour, Norman has gotten all confident to defend his league. For the backlash he has been receiving after one of LIV’s streaming services ran out of business, the 69-year-old has come up with an apt answer in his league’s favor.

Rather than talking about vision and plans, Norman brought out factual statistics to back his argument. According to the former golfer, about 738 million people watch Gold and add up as the viewers to keep the game alive by providing support and profit. But what is it that truly makes a difference in LIV’s viewership?

Greg Norman revealed the reason for having a young audience

Norman reckons the biggest difference between the viewership of Liv Gold and that of the PGA Tour is the age of the viewers. While Liv Golf attracts young fans, with over 50% of fans being 45 or younger, that’s not the case with the PGA as the average age of its audience is quite high.

In the latest Podcast with Latitude, Norman revealed his goal of expanding not just LIV, but the sport of golf altogether. “There are 738 Million people in the world who are interested in golf. Don’t play the game of golf and there are about 60 million golfers. So we have another 670-odd Million people. We can go figure out how to get them interested not just in LIV but in the game of golf,” Norman stated.

“I truly believe we are on the road to doing that already, because when you look at our audience bases today, that we have like about just around 50% of our ticket sales are 45 years old and younger,” Norman added.

The CEO of the Saudi-backed league did not hesitate to mention why they have achieved such heights in viewership while factually putting down their rival tournament, the PGA Tour. Norman pinpointed the reason to be their product and entertainment. “Following the PGA Tour is the oldest aging demographic in sport at 67 and a half down to 45, because of our product, because of the entertainment side,” the Australian remarked.

Moreover, Norman has also brought attention to how the sales of LIV Golf include a massive female interest. He reckons the reason why LIV has such a female audience is because they feel inclusive. “There’s a place around the world where 32% of our ticket sales are women, so they are coming to an event that they feel inclusive with,” Norman explained.

But does the same prominence persist on their TV viewership?

LIV Golf’s bad luck with streaming options

This June 26th marked an upsetting day for all the LIV Supporters. Although LIV Golf is known for its endless money rolling in and out, one of its streaming services proved otherwise. The Caffeine TV announced that it was discontinuing its services for a lack of profit. It stirred the golf community to notice how 61 million monthly users and 4 million per day was not enough profit for the system. The community hollered at Norman for the sudden revelation of their crisis.

However, this is not something new. A similar crisis of falling viewership was noticed earlier this year. Despite having immense storylines and remarkable play to offer the community, LIV Golf’s TV ratings were unbelievably humble. It had only 297,000 viewers in the final round in Las Vegas in the same round where Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, and Dustin Johnson were in the marquee group. It was the 51st on all TV ratings on that particular day.

Golf Central’s pre-round coverage ultimately attracted around the same number of viewers. However, it was way less than LIV Golf Mayakoba’s 432,000 views. Even the Mayakoba TV ratings had fallen short of the PGA Tour’s third-round re-run on CBS by one-third of its viewers.

Do you think with the new plans of teams having their home courses, Greg Norman should also do something about the league’s viewership? Let us know in the comments below.