Golf Digest to Discovery Channel

[V_Halyard]

And this on the eve of the PGA.
Timing of the announcement... coincidence?
Zaslav hates coincidences.
Discovery plays hard.

https://www.thewrap.com/discovery-buys-golf-digest-from-conde-nast/

Buckle up NBC/Universal/Golf Channel oh and Fox... every so often.

[Steve Lapper]

Of greatest interest will be the upcoming battle for the domestic PGA Tour TV rights.


FWIW...I think it was a shrewd move by Discovery.

[Jay Revell]

There is a great deal of next generation talent in the golf space these days. I imagine the next series of acquisitions will be focused on locking up personalities that can appeal to new and younger audiences. I look for the Discovery folks to start seeking out the best content creators as a means of building out their platforms. By building a portfolio that now includes both print/digital/ and tv they could offer some of the ambitious new golf personalities a pathway to more eyeballs than ever before. I'd go scoop up Amanda Balionis, Erik Lang, Brendan Porath, Andy Johnson, the No Laying Up guys, and perhaps a few others. To be successful they'll need personalities who can perform across all mediums. That's where I bet they'll start to focus as the PGA Tour tv contract comes near. As the blind man says...we'll see.

[V_Halyard]

There is a great deal of next generation talent in the golf space these days. I imagine the next series of acquisitions will be focused on locking up personalities that can appeal to new and younger audiences. I look for the Discovery folks to start seeking out the best content creators as a means of building out their platforms. By building a portfolio that now includes both print/digital/ and tv they could offer some of the ambitious new golf personalities a pathway to more eyeballs than ever before. I'd go scoop up Amanda Balionis, Erik Lang, Brendan Porath, Andy Johnson, the No Laying Up guys, and perhaps a few others. To be successful they'll need personalities who can perform across all mediums. That's where I bet they'll start to focus as the PGA Tour tv contract comes near. As the blind man says...we'll see.

Yep

[BHoover]

The sale price does not suggest a transformational event, in my humble opinion. Condé Nast originally paid $430MM for Golf Digest. Discovery paid $30MM.

[Steve Lapper]

The sale price does not suggest a transformational event, in my humble opinion. Condé Nast originally paid $430MM for Golf Digest. Discovery paid $30MM.

That's not a fair statement whatsoever. The price just reflects how damaged the speciality magazine business became during that period. Combine the changes of business plans created by the internet with the general malaise of the game and voila...you get serious diminishment of value.

[/size] I'm not a big fan of GD, but think it's now well positioned to serve as a content machine for both a network media and a print/web medium. That is, IMO, a transformational event for GD. [size=78%]


One can merely look at the resurgence of Golf Magazine post it's redesign and redirection of relevant content to see just how transformational a fresh and constructive change in ownership can result.

[V_Halyard]

The sale price does not suggest a transformational event, in my humble opinion. Condé Nast originally paid $430MM for Golf Digest. Discovery paid $30MM.

Yep... Or the roughly cost of 2 Episodes of Game of Thrones... Almost...


That said, the GD brand is still very strong, high mass market name recognition, and Discovery's Zaslav has some very savvy golf connected pals so watch this one. Not many losers connected to this deal.

[BHoover]

The sale price does not suggest a transformational event, in my humble opinion. Condé Nast originally paid $430MM for Golf Digest. Discovery paid $30MM.

Yep... Or the roughly cost of 2 Episodes of Game of Thrones... Almost...


That said, the GD brand is still very strong, high mass market name recognition, and Discovery's Zaslav has some very savvy golf connected pals so watch this one. Not many losers connected to this deal.

That would be almost 2 more episodes of GoT than I’ve watched.


I’m not saying this deal can’t work. But, like claiming trade wars are a good thing and are easy to win, let’s maybe temper expectations at this point.

[V_Halyard]

The sale price does not suggest a transformational event, in my humble opinion. Condé Nast originally paid $430MM for Golf Digest. Discovery paid $30MM.

That's not a fair statement whatsoever. The price just reflects how damaged the speciality magazine business became during that period. Combine the changes of business plans created by the internet with the general malaise of the game and voila...you get serious diminishment of value.

I'm not a big fan of GD, but think it's now well positioned to serve as a content machine for both a network media and a print/web medium. That is, IMO, a transformational event for GD. [size=78%]


One can merely look at the resurgence of Golf Magazine post it's redesign and redirection of relevant content to see just how transformational a fresh and constructive change in ownership can result.
[/size]

Fully agree with Steve. The content, the name recognition and the demographic it attracts make this appear to be a bargain buy but in this case, the potential for reach and scale given the partners is significant.

[BHoover]

The sale price does not suggest a transformational event, in my humble opinion. Condé Nast originally paid $430MM for Golf Digest. Discovery paid $30MM.

That's not a fair statement whatsoever. The price just reflects how damaged the speciality magazine business became during that period. Combine the changes of business plans created by the internet with the general malaise of the game and voila...you get serious diminishment of value.

What’s not a fair statement — stating the sale price?

[Steve Lapper]

"The sale price does not suggest a transformational event."


 Sale price isn't at all related to the the "dramatic change" that represents transformational.


 How many well-capitalized cable networks are able to buy a content machine that may struggle in print, but excels over the web, for a discount price?

[BHoover]

"The sale price does not suggest a transformational event."


 Sale price isn't at all related to the the "dramatic change" that represents transformational.


 How many well-capitalized cable networks are able to buy a content machine that may struggle in print, but excels over the web, for a discount price?

Okay, then please tell me what dramatic change I should expect from this deal.

[V_Halyard]

"The sale price does not suggest a transformational event."


 Sale price isn't at all related to the the "dramatic change" that represents transformational.


 How many well-capitalized cable networks are able to buy a content machine that may struggle in print, but excels over the web, for a discount price?

Okay, then please tell me what dramatic change I should expect from this deal.

Not to over simplify but there are relevant examples of the power of synergy. New Golf Channel vs. NBC/UNI Golf Channel. The scale is visible. The Marvel that was facing Chapter 11 has grown into the $2 Billion/week Disney driven Marvel Universe.
Golf Week has seen positive growth within Gannett.
Nobody but the insiders know what to expect, but marrying a well known Golf Digest brand to the Discovery/Tiger/GOLF TV juggernaut, arguably delivers high odds favoring positive growth. If you search, you will see that Tiger did a video announcement of the merger. (And to answer a PM, No I'm not a GD Rater nor producer/staffer etc.)

[Jeff Schley]

I like the diversification that Discovery is picking up here.  Although we call it GD magazine they aren't buying it to print copies of the mag.  It will be digital media and also perhaps broadcast some specialty events or content on their channel.  I like GD myself and don't know why any golfer would bag one of very small amount of content magazines we have for our sport. I understand everyone here (or almost) doesn't agree with their top 100 lists criteria etc., but I like their pros content section quite a bit.

[Steve Lapper]

"The sale price does not suggest a transformational event."


 Sale price isn't at all related to the the "dramatic change" that represents transformational.


 How many well-capitalized cable networks are able to buy a content machine that may struggle in print, but excels over the web, for a discount price?

Okay, then please tell me what dramatic change I should expect from this deal.

Not to over simplify but there are relevant examples of the power of synergy. New Golf Channel vs. NBC/UNI Golf Channel. The scale is visible. The Marvel that was facing Chapter 11 has grown into the $2 Billion/week Disney driven Marvel Universe.
Golf Week has seen positive growth within Gannett.
Nobody but the insiders know what to expect, but marrying a well known Golf Digest brand to the Discovery/Tiger/GOLF TV juggernaut, arguably delivers high odds favoring positive growth. If you search, you will see that Tiger did a video announcement of the merger. (And to answer a PM, No I'm not a GD Rater nor producer/staffer etc.)

Spot on Vaughn. It is this potential synergy that provides the likelihood of a positive transformation. I think it was shrewd buy by Discovery and again, will introduce both yet another major party to the delivery of multi-media content as well as create a new industry heavyweight...not to mention hefty competition for the Golf Channel at the upcoming TV contract negotiations.


All-in-all, (and in the interest of full disclosure...I'm a loyalist to Golf Magazine), I think it's a win-win for the industry and all of us golfers out there. For example, I look forward to the day, I hear/see a unique visual story created by the likes of a Tom Friedman as an intro for a specific Tour event. That would be far more interesting to me than say another interview with a corporate sponsor.

[V_Halyard]

"The sale price does not suggest a transformational event."


 Sale price isn't at all related to the the "dramatic change" that represents transformational.


 How many well-capitalized cable networks are able to buy a content machine that may struggle in print, but excels over the web, for a discount price?

Okay, then please tell me what dramatic change I should expect from this deal.

Not to over simplify but there are relevant examples of the power of synergy. New Golf Channel vs. NBC/UNI Golf Channel. The scale is visible. The Marvel that was facing Chapter 11 has grown into the $2 Billion/week Disney driven Marvel Universe.
Golf Week has seen positive growth within Gannett.
Nobody but the insiders know what to expect, but marrying a well known Golf Digest brand to the Discovery/Tiger/GOLF TV juggernaut, arguably delivers high odds favoring positive growth. If you search, you will see that Tiger did a video announcement of the merger. (And to answer a PM, No I'm not a GD Rater nor producer/staffer etc.)

Spot on Vaughn. It is this potential synergy that provides the likelihood of a positive transformation. I think it was shrewd buy by Discovery and again, will introduce both yet another major party to the delivery of multi-media content as well as create a new industry heavyweight...not to mention hefty competition for the Golf Channel at the upcoming TV contract negotiations.


All-in-all, (and in the interest of full disclosure...I'm a loyalist to Golf Magazine), I think it's a win-win for the industry and all of us golfers out there. For example, I look forward to the day, I hear/see a unique visual story created by the likes of a Tom Friedman as an intro for a specific Tour event. That would be far more interesting to me than say another interview with a corporate sponsor.

Agree. This is a win-win for the golf media consumer. It will raise the bar at a network level.
Although we are mostly quite thankful for GC, it has no competition network competition.
Time will tell but more than likely, Discovery will expand the audience and production approaches to the benefit of the golf audience.

[Emile Bonfiglio]

Just reading the tea leaves...


We are headed towards a full subscription viewing/reading experience related to golf media. Either GOLFTV (Discovery/Tiger) or GOLFPAS (Comcast/NBC/Rory) are going to be the victors of the PGA Tour broadcasting rights and when that happens you subscription will get you access to all the golf content (print, social, broadcast, etc)...all for the low low price of $65 a month. Comcast is already preparing for this by ramping up the college event broadcasting.


Not sure it will be good, but it will be different.

[Joel_Stewart]

Do the old custodians like Jerry Tarde and Ron Whitten survive?

[V_Halyard]

Just reading the tea leaves...


We are headed towards a full subscription viewing/reading experience related to golf media. Either GOLFTV (Discovery/Tiger) or GOLFPAS (Comcast/NBC/Rory) are going to be the victors of the PGA Tour broadcasting rights and when that happens you subscription will get you access to all the golf content (print, social, broadcast, etc)...all for the low low price of $65 a month. Comcast is already preparing for this by ramping up the college event broadcasting.


Not sure it will be good, but it will be different.

Interesting and reasonable pondering. Thinking that there is a limited golf audience and to some extent, it is already a subscription model based on cable satellite. At some point, they run out of audience bodies to subscribe and the subscription revenue will still need some ad driven programming that appeals to a mass audience.

[Tommy Williamsen]

https://www.golfdigest.com/story/golf-digest-sold-to-discovery-inc

[Tom_Doak]

Oh goody, golf becoming more corporate.  Just what we need.

[Erik J. Barzeski]

Oh goody, golf becoming more corporate.  Just what we need.

How do you figure?

Genuinely asking. They were owned by a corporation (who bought them for $430M) before this sale to Discovery. How is this "more corporate" now?

[Tom_Doak]

All the synergies mentioned with the PGA TOUR and with television will lead to more “big business “ decisions than the Nader Condé Nast.  That’s the only reason anyone has given to make sense of the sale.

[Steve Lapper]

All the synergies mentioned with the PGA TOUR and with television will lead to more “big business “ decisions than the Nader Condé Nast.  That’s the only reason anyone has given to make sense of the sale.

 I don't know if you are referring to Allyssa Nader (a freelance writer) or Lesley Nadler(VP of Agency Investment and Partnerships at CN), but this deal follows a path of absolutely zero difference from what has already been taken by the Golf Channel (Comcast-NBC and plenty of smaller content companies).

  The proverbial "big business" barn door was thrown open a long time ago (early 1960s) and can no longer contain the game's drift towards larger media platforms, and it's intersection with traditional content and specialized coverage. Surely, money has been the plasma of all of this, but equally responsible is how, why and when the customer chooses to consume golf-related content.


  Decisions will unquestionably have their roots based in data-driven, commercially-based "big business" analytics. Certainly, the PGA Tour will drive a good bit of that as well. If Zaslav's and the Discovery Channel's past helps shape its future, human interest, historical, architectural, and travel-related content will also find its way onto the TV and e-device screens.


Ultimately, I believe this is very likely a net positive for most fans of the game insofar as it allows for larger and varied platforms to deliver both general and specialized content to more interested parties. I can't help but think this will undoubtedly occur on GOLF TV as well.

A perfect example is just how we now see stories and information surrounding golf architecture, it's history and current state of affairs. A larger number of golfers who've never heard of you, C&C, or Gil Hanse now seek out visiting yours, et.al. venues. Does anyone really believe that the viewership here rivals the numbers and width of the Golf Channel?

Surely, the business success of places like Pinehurst, Streamsong, Cabot and Bandon owe some measure to new and larger media platforms that highlight their attraction. I'm not opining on the balance of more popularity v. less availability. That's a bit of a Faustian bargain IMO.