Nexstar-owned network The CW will use iSpot as one of its vendors to measure audiences for the LIV Golf Tournament, an upstart league which recently had its debut weekend.
The emerging measurement provider will provide its full suite of tools to measure cross-platform premium video campaigns and sponsorships associated with the 2023 LIV Golf Tournament, calculating reach, frequency, average minute audience and impact of viewers and ad campaigns across Nexstar-operated CW stations, along with the CW app.
Nexstar is a major broadcaster in the U.S. with 200 broadcast stations in 116 markets.
“As LIV Golf continues to, literally, change the game, so too is Nexstar Media Group, alongside The CW, revolutionizing the way content and advertising is transacted upon. With an innovative approach to sponsorship opportunities for brands and advertisers, LIV Golf on the CW will be an immersive, omnichannel advertising opportunity in ways the industry really hasn’t seen before,” said Michael Strober, EVP and chief revenue officer, Nexstar Media Group.
Both The CW and the LIV Golf Tour are relatively new to Nexstar. Last year the broadcaster acquired a 75% stake in The CW, with Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery each retaining a 12.5% share. In January, Nexstar agreed under a multi-year deal for the network to become the home of the LIV Golf League. The league is backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment fund and has faced scrutiny for its financing, while also pitting itself against the PGA Tour as it poached well-known players and challenged the long-dominate North American pro golf circuit. Some golfers, such as Rory McIlroy, have said the emergence of the Saudi-backed league spurred the PGA to make changes and improve benefits for players.
Financial terms of the deal with Nexstar were not disclosed, but the station owner will air 14 LIV Golf events on both linear and digital streams for the 2023 season. The agreement marks the first live sports deal for The CW, as Nexstar works to improve programs and ratings on the network to ultimately improve profitability.
According to iSpot data, during opening weekend the LIV Golf Tour garnered 3.2 million viewers on The CW across linear and digital platforms. The fledgling golf league also helped drive year over year gains for the CW, and app downloads jumped nearly 40% from the prior month, according to iSpot.
“With this unprecedented integration of experiential omnichannel activations across digital and linear, as well as traditional and offline channels, we needed a measurement provider who could keep pace with our innovative approach to consumer monetization and we found one in iSpot,” Strober continued.
iSpot for its part has counted measurement wins in the past year, including certification by NBCUniversal as a cross-platform currency that can deliver on age and gender as well as advanced audiences.
“Providing The CW, LIV Golf and the industry as a whole with best-in-class, cross-screen measurement will allow brands to identify and capitalize on premiere audiences and the CW to monetize these consumers in a way other legacy and upstart media measurement providers – some that continue to profit off media arbitrage strategies – fall needlessly short,” said Stuart Schwartzapfel, EVP Media Partnerships at iSpot TV, in a statement.