Advanced Television

Discovery acquires Golf Digest

May 13, 2019

Discovery has acquired Golf Digest from Condé Nast. Golf Digest is a global golf media brand and will extend Discovery’s global golf media business to the US market through Golf Digest’s multiplatform distribution and reach.

The acquisition creates a powerful programming engine by adding Golf Digest to GOLFTV’s offerings that already include exclusive carriage of the PGA TOUR, the European Tour, and the Ladies European Tour, as well as the Masters Tournament, in select territories outside the US and Discovery’s exclusive global content partnerships with Tiger Woods, winner of 82 PGA TOUR events and 15 major championships, and Francesco Molinari, winner of three PGA TOUR events and the reigning Open champion.

The addition of Golf Digest boosts Discovery’s global golf ecosystem with a leading platform in the US, which will allow the company to now reach golf fans with everything associated with the game, including instructional videos, equipment advice, course rankings, travel destinations, online bookings and more.

Additionally, Discovery and the PGA TOUR are expanding their 12-year strategic partnership with a new content and sales relationship in the US, among other initiatives. 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.

David Zaslav, President and CEO of Discovery, said: “Golf Digest is a world-class brand that has become the ‘go-to’ authority for millions of golf enthusiasts, professional players and global advertisers. It’s a natural strategic fit with Discovery’s goal to be the leading golf media platform in the world. 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. Jay Monahan and the PGA TOUR have been great partners and we are excited to expand our mutual vision to bring these amazing players and all of their terrific play to more people on more devices in every market in the world.”

Rick Anderson, Chief Media Officer, PGA TOUR, said: “We’re thrilled to deepen our partnership with Discovery, as well as Golf Digest, which has been an official marketing partner of the PGA TOUR since 2006. By combining our assets in the U.S., we’re now able to offer the most robust digital content and product offering for fans, golfers and TOUR partners. The new PGA TOUR / Golf Digest digital network will be the single largest golf network offering unrivaled breadth and depth of content across platforms.”

Categories: Articles, Business, M&A