LIV Golf makes YouTube streaming return with big change

LIV Golf have announced a return to YouTube streaming ahead of their Washington DC event – but some viewers will now have to pay to watch the live action.

LIV streamed the inaugural 2022 season entirely on the YouTube platform after failing to secure a TV deal for the Saudi-funded enterprise.

In January, however,  LIV bosses secured a deal with The CW Network for 2023 and beyond to broadcast Saturdays and Sundays live on TV across the United States.

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And while that multi-year contract remains in place with streaming also available on the LIV Golf Plus app, Youtube will also show the 54-hole events for the remainder of the season.

LIV have introduced a new pay-per-view model for those watching on the platform in various territories around the world.

Viewers in countries including the US, Canada, Mexico and South Korea can watch the action for $3 per day, as reported by Sports Business Journal’s Josh Carpenter.

However, fans in the UK, Italy, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland and Japan can all tune in free of charge with their ‘geo-fenced’ live streaming option.

This means that payment is not needed in these countries, while in other markets a paywall is required to protect LIV’s current broadcast contracts.

LIV’s Chief Media Officer Will Staeger said: “Expanding the availability of LIV Golf’s live coverage on YouTube marks another milestone in the innovative ways in which we are making our groundbreaking competition available to viewers.

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“LIV Golf is a global league comprised of some of the game’s biggest stars, and this supports our goal of bringing the sport we love to more people in more places around the world.”

LIV’s YouTube streaming option has returned in time for this weekend’s event in DC at Trump National Golf Club.

The event, which marks the halfway point on LIV’s 14-event 2023 calendar, includes PGA Championship winner Brooks Koepka in the field a week after lifting his third Wanamaker trophy at Oak Hill.

Ben Parsons joined bunkered as a Content Producer in 2023 and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.