The Caddie Network Partnership With Golf Digest Shows Power of Niche Platforms

*This piece first appeared in the Front Office Sports Newsletter. Subscribe today and get the news before anyone else. 

It’s been a good last few weeks for you if you’re a niche digital content platform in golf.

First, it was Skratch teaming up with CBS Sports Digital. Today, it’s The Caddie Network joining forces with Golf Digest.

The deal will see TCN enter into a multi-platform content and programming partnership with Golf Digest. The new partnership will feature several content and programming features to be shared through a variety of platforms, including digital, social and print.

We caught up with TCN Co-Founder John von Stade to see why niche publishers are winning and how this new partnership allows them to do even more creative work.

Inside the rise of micro-content platforms…
“Micro-content platforms like The Caddie Network clearly are here to stay. They are helping to deliver new content to very well defined audiences that want that fresh content – this is exactly why some of the established publishers find niche publishers so attractive.”

“As a niche publisher, we are always in search of new and engaged fans, so for TCN, Golf Digest is a perfect partner who has both scale and a perfect target audience for TCN. In reverse, the big publishers are always looking for unique and compelling content that excites their audience and can bring a different, but relevant and authentic voice.”

On new opportunities the partnership presents…
“It’s all about driving scale and distribution. As a niche publisher, it is very difficult in your startup days to speak to a large audience on your own, so someone who has the audience scale and multiple points of distribution that Golf Digest has, puts The Caddie Network in a great position to get our content in front of one of the largest golf audiences in the world.”

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On why they bet on caddies…
“My business partner and I have been in the golf business and media business for more than 25 years and we are always on the lookout for potential new content opportunities and following 18 months of researching what we believed was a very undervalued and underexposed storyline, the professional caddies, we felt the timing was right to bring not only the Tour caddies lives to the forefront but also let the golf fan see and hear from some of the truly great characters in the game itself, grassroots caddies.”

On the integration of betting into the partnership…
“Golf has always had a betting angle, whether it be the professional or daily foursome games. With the huge move to bring betting into all professional sports on a legal level moving forward, we felt that TCN and the caddies themselves bring a very unique expertise to the table of understanding the weekly nuances on the professional tours. Golf Digest also saw this opportunity and it is one of the underpinnings of our partnership.”

Expanding brand partnerships…
“The primary benefit is the idea that we can benefit from GD’s scale and audience by bringing potential brands into our content distribution partnership and GD has the ability to bring new content to its brand partners as well. It really is a great partnership.”

*This piece first appeared in the Front Office Sports Newsletter. Subscribe today and get the news before anyone else.