For the past two weeks, Rick Shiels had been teasing an important announcement.
Most followers of the YouTube content creator weren’t exactly thrilled with the drawn-out process. The most-liked comment on the second teaser video posted to X was, “Imagine thinking you are so big you need to drag an announcement for 3 weeks.”
Given recent news of YouTube golfers heralding their new ownership stakes in niche equipment companies, many assumed Shiels was building up to something mundane.
It turns out that is not the case.
Shiels became the first full-time YouTube golfer to sign with LIV. He will be creating content with LIV players including YouTube star Bryson DeChambeau.
“This is not me playing in LIV Golf events,” Shiels said. “I’m going to be making some unbelievable content at every single LIV Golf event.”
Shiels explained that we can expect several different forms of YouTube content, which will live on his own channel. His “Breaking 75” series will take place at each LIV venue; there will be a “10-Shot Challenge” at each tournament; Shiels will participate in five-man scrambles with LIV teams; there will be 2 vs. 2 matches between LIV players; he will be a part of instruction sessions with LIV pros; and Shiels is also hosting a podcast series with LIV players.
The first video, which has already been filmed, will feature Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka.
It’s the first major investment LIV is making in the YouTube golf space.
What does it mean?
This move makes sense for everyone involved
While it’s an eye-catching move for LIV to sign Shiels, there are no real surprises here.
Shiels started on YouTube more than 12 years ago. He was among the first to turn a meaningful profit and is about to eclipse three million subscribers, a mark that outpaces everyone else in the golf category. His videos have been viewed nearly a billion times.
However, Shiels doesn’t have anywhere near the same “market share” he used to, given the dramatic rise in competition.
Of his 25 most popular videos in the channel’s history, none of them came in the last 18 months. Viewership on his channel has been down slightly—at a time when more people are flocking to YouTube for their golf entertainment.
Don’t get me wrong, Shiels is still a relevant character on YouTube but I wouldn’t put him in the top 10-15 channels. His act has just worn stale over the past few years as newer, more exciting personalities have come along.
Signing with LIV is financial security and a rebrand for his channel, although some fans will be turned off by the move.
Another reason this isn’t surprising: Shiels has connections to the Saudis. Performance54—a marketing and PR firm owned by the Saudis and that works with LIV/Golf Saudi—is an owner in Shiels’ company as well. You can dig a lot deeper into that with John Barba’s investigative piece he published in September 2022.
Last month, Shiels released a podcast saying there would be fewer episodes and fewer YouTube videos being published on his channel in the coming weeks. He had been producing less content over the last couple of months in 2024.
“That’s because we have got some outrageous, incredible, mind-blowing plans for 2025,” Shiels said at the time. “And that is not an exaggeration.”
When images circulated of Shiels standing in front of the exact same backdrop for promotional videos as other LIV golfers have, it became obvious what that news would be.
As for LIV, going with the content creation route is an easy decision they should have made years ago.
LIV’s ratings are abysmal as traditional golf on TV has been declining. Both LIV and the PGA Tour are now scrambling to invest more in YouTube golf.
On the Tour side, we have seen the Creator Classic evolving into a three-event series for 2025. They also established a Creator Council to create more official ties with YouTubers and other influencers in the game.
Maybe LIV’s only path forward for gaining real traction is to sign YouTubers and create videos with its players. Had it gone all-in on that concept from the beginning, we might be having a completely different conversation.
Shiels is a solid name to grab and I’m sure there will be more YouTuber signings in the future.
The pro golf world is changing dramatically
Golf as an entertainment product on TV is continuing to suffer.
The Tour is getting shelled early in 2025. Final-round viewership for The American Express last week was down 56 percent which is in line with some of the decreases we saw in Hawaii.
As the kids would say, there is “negative infinity” buzz for Tour golf right now.
We have Justin Thomas writing a letter to his fellow players begging them to consider more on-course interviews.
That is great and everything … but the Tour’s TV product is atrocious for other reasons. One study done this weekend concluded that only 1.2 golf shots are shown per minute on a Tour telecast. More than 40 percent of the shots shown are putts. And fans get inundated with commercials along the way.
Why would we watch that?
TGL, the Tour-backed simulator league, has some good things going for it but looks to be more of a “background noise” show. After two weeks of decent ratings, peaking at 1.05 million, viewership for the third match cratered to 682,000. The average age of the viewer is only 51, a lot younger than the Tour’s traditional broadcast. I think it’s fine for Tuesday nights in the winter but the novelty is wearing off—it doesn’t look to be anything approaching a game-changer at this point.
LIV has a new TV deal with Fox Sports that could be beneficial. The league has a long uphill climb given how last year’s championship couldn’t even crack 100,000 viewers.
There is a lot of apathy across the board. I don’t watch nearly as much golf as I once did.
Golf entertainment is becoming more decentralized as fans can watch a better product on demand. Check out this video of Tiger giving Grant Horvat a lesson and tell me that isn’t way more entertaining than seeing Sepp Straka win The American Express. It’s not even close.
What happens next?
In some form or fashion, you are going to be seeing a lot more YouTubers showing up on the Tour and LIV.
It’s a matter of survival. Without them, traditional golf coverage could wilt into oblivion.
Top Photo Caption: Rick Shiels embraces LIV player Sergio Garcia. (GETTY IMAGES/David Cannon)
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