Shocking drop in TGL Golf viewership: This is the reason why the new simulator match play TV ratings are down
Reading into TGL ratings data can be tricky. Tonight, Jan. 27 is only the fourth week of competition of the golf simulation league and interest should spike with Tiger Woods facing Rory McIlroy.
The Jupiter Links Golf Club will play against Boston Common Golf, at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN. The newly founded league needs a boost after last week’s viewership dropped significantly. Maybe the honeymoon is over, or perhaps there was too much competition with the NFL and other sports, but the truth is, interest is dropping.
Some experts say that the decrease in audience was expected and that things will pick up again this week with two of the owners/founders of TGL playing against each other. Woods’ team will play McIlory’s team Monday night and the big names are just what ESPN and fans needed.
The reason(s) why TGL’s viewership is down
Week 2 for the league was the audience peak so far at 1.05 million viewers, but viewership dropped to 682,000 average viewers in Week 3.
📺TGL Week 3 Viewership (Nielsen)
— @YeahClickClack (@YeahClickClack) January 23, 2025
🚨Big Decline: -32% vs Week 2 (and least watched to-date)
P2+ Viewers on ESPN:
• 7P Week 3: 682,000
• 7P Week 2: 1,005,000 (Tiger)
• 9P Week 1: 919,000 (Debut)
Next week is Tiger vs. Rory (Mon. @ 6:30P) - TGL needs a competitive matchup🐅🐸
For starters, golf fans are a traditional bunch and like to watch the sport played on, well, golf courses. Fans have shown over recent years that they like watching the PGA Tour, but YouTube golf has opened up a whole new niche that younger and older golf fans are enjoying. Watching YouTubers of all levels knock the ball around can be just as entertaining or even more so than following four days of PGA pros.
The PGA Tour and LIV golf have taken notice and are trying to adapt their products to a younger generation. At the moment, TGL doesn’t seem to be a very appealing product for golf fans. Golf pundits have discovered that what makes YouTube golf so entertaining are the personalities of the guys who play. Most PGA Tour golfers are just not that entertaining or funny. Not on the PGA Tour and not on TGL.
It might be too early to rule out the new simulation league, but watching pros hit balls into a huge screen is just not that entertaining. TGL is still figuring out how this works and what people like, but the learning curve is short and some of those viewers from Week 2, who didn’t tune in last week, probably aren’t coming back.
Another reason for the lack of interest is bettors aren’t confident about placing their wagers on guys hitting balls into a screen. Technological issues have been detected and documented and it’s just not reliable enough yet for those fans who want to gamble.
Who wins Triples tonight on ESPN? pic.twitter.com/w2n7lNRo7D
— TGL (@TGL) January 27, 2025
Playing on weekdays doesn’t help either. Golf fans are used to watching the sport on the weekend, so tuning into ESPN on Mondays and Tuesdays might take some time to get used to.
It will be interesting to measure the Rory - Tiger duel tonight and see if the ratings spike again when there are two of golf’s top names playing against each other. If viewership doesn’t improve with McIlroy and Woods, then TGL might not make it past its first season.
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