Conde Nast marketplace: Sells Golf Digest title

US magazine giant Conde Nast is a little bit smaller this week after revealing it has sold two of its magazine brand. First title to find a new home was the Golf Digest brand, which also has an impact on the licence for the title in Australia.

Discovery is the new home for the brand and it plans to combine the title with its GolfTV channel, which is available to subscribers globally, including Australia.

“Golf Digest is a world-class brand that has become the ‘go-to’ authority for millions of golf enthusiasts, professional players and global advertisers,” said David Zaslav, president and CEO of Discovery, Inc. “It’s a natural strategic fit with Discovery’s goal to be the leading golf media platform in the world. Through our investments with the PGA Tour, the European Tour and our partnership with Tiger Woods, we wanted to bolster GolfTV’s international offerings with Golf Digest’s award-winning journalism, broad consumer reach and deep content library while also creating the largest US digital golf business. Jay Monahan and the PGA Tour have been great partners and we are excited to expand our mutual vision to bring these amazing players and all of their terrific play to more people on more devices in every market in the world.”

Nick Cutler, managing director of CMMA Digital & Print Pty Ltd – publishers of Australian Golf Digest and New Zealand Golf Digest – said the deal reinforces where both titles stand in their respective markets.

“Since we acquired Australian Golf Digest in July 2015, we have set about building the brand beyond print to encompass a full suite of digital assets,” Cutler said. “With only a third of our monthly reach now coming from the print magazine, the rest of the 450,000 golfers engage with us across our digital, social and web broadcast assets. More recently we have mirrored this investment in launching New Zealand Golf Digest with great success. With this Discovery acquisition of Golf Digest, this takes us to a whole new level.

“The Discovery – Golf Digest deal is brilliant for golf, particularly in Australia and New Zealand. The investment in the broadcast alone (GolfTV) across the range of tours will simply mean golfers will be able to see more golf than ever before.”

“The content and marketing potential for combining the resources of Discovery, the PGA Tour, Tiger Woods, GolfTV and Australian Golf Digest is the stuff that dreams are made of in our industry,” says Australian Golf Digest editor-in-chief Brad Clifton. “Except now it’s a reality for us here in Australia.”