This tournament creates a lot of buzz in the golf world, and one of the more unique things about their brand is that they don't really look at short term revenue. Some examples of that include their non-maximized TV deals, and the Masters food prices that people talk so much about.
One thing they do that doesn't get enough attention, in my view, is their investment into tech. That's on display more than ever this year. They have created a virtual on-demand viewer experience.
On Masters.org I wanted to watch favorite Rory McIlroy, so I clicked his name. Up popped up his "TV channel" -
That's pretty neat, but even neater, if you mouse click the shot itself, up pops up video of the shot itself.
Now, they clearly don't have to do this. The 'proper' way would be to sell digital rights to Fox or CBS and let them do it, but they've taken it upon themselves to invest in the best golf experience they can muster. And this investment is made for four days a year.
This new on-demand by player feature is but a small part of the overall digital brand, of course. As we know, we can watch almost everything, including live play before the television coverage, absolutely free.
Horse racing, on the other hand, doesn't think at all like this when it comes to data or tech in terms of solely building a brand. We see it with data, or tech investment, or freemium modeling; there's always a reason not to do something, rather than do something. And this sport races races almost 24/7, 365 days a year.
The Masters has grown like a weed in the sport of golf, and has become more and more noticed all around the world. Their investments today are made to ensure it never stops growing. So far it's been working.
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