The times they are a-changin’ in the world of golf.

The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) was the fastest-growing women’s league in terms of partnerships last year, according to a report from sports and entertainment intelligence platform SponsorUnited, increasing brand deals by 30% compared to 2021.

“I’ve been in pro sports for over 20 years and worked for other top leagues—top men’s leagues—and I have never seen this much inbound, proactive interest in my entire career,” Nicole Metzger, the LPGA’s chief sales and partnerships officer, told us. “We’re fortunate that we’re finally on the radar [of] C-level decision makers.”

There were more than 1,200 brands active with the LPGA as of April, more than double the number from 2019, per a more recent report. Some of those partners have seen as high as a 400% return on their investment, according to SponsorUnited, as the league works to prove it can provide ROI beyond checking a box for brands that want to support women’s sports.

Read the full story here.—AM

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American consumers are spending less on a lot of things. Add streaming to the list.

Streaming subscription spending in US internet-connected households dropped by 25% in two years. Users now spend an average of $73 a month on streaming, compared to $90 a month in 2021, according to recent data from the research firm Parks Associates, which conducts surveys of 10,000 US internet households each quarter.

At the same time, one-third of these households used at least one free ad-supported service by the end of 2022, Parks Associates found, marking the fourth year in a row that free ad-based services have seen market-share growth.

Cost of business: The decline in subscription spending comes as streaming services continue to raise their prices across the board in an effort to better monetize their services (and, in some cases, direct users toward ad-supported offerings). Apple TV+, Disney+, Max, Peacock, and Paramount+ have all raised their prices recently, and just this week, Warner Bros. Discovery announced an add-on for Max subscribers centered on live sports programming.

Sad on ads: While overall usage of ad-supported services is on the rise, users aren’t exactly jumping for joy about the experience. More than 40% of ad-based OTT service users said there were “far too many ads,” and a higher percentage said they thought ads were too often not relevant to them, Parks Associates found. With that said, many free ad-supported services still have more competitive CPMs compared to subscription streaming services with ad tiers.

The even smaller screen: Mobile video viewing, which accounts for nearly one-fifth of all video consumption hours, is “dominant” among younger consumers, while TV viewership is waning: Less than half of 18- to 24-year-olds watched any video on a TV over a 30-day period.—KS

Another day, another ad-supported streaming service: Amazon is rolling out ads on Prime Video starting in early 2024, the company announced on Friday.

According to Amazon, subscribers in the US, UK, Germany, Canada, France, Italy, Spain, Mexico, and Australia will start seeing ads on the service throughout next year. Unless they want to cough up more for an ad-free tier: In the US, subscribers can pay an additional $2.99 to view content without ads, though live programming will continue to have advertising. Pricing for other countries is not available yet.

Amazon Prime members currently get access to Prime Video through that membership, which costs $139 a year or $14.99 on a monthly basis.

Amazon did not provide specifics on ad length or load, though in a blog post announcing the news, it wrote that the platform will aim to have “meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers.”

The company is not new to streaming ads. Ads currently appear in live content on Prime Video, including Thursday Night Football, on Twitch, and on its free, ad-supported streaming platform, Freevee. It also joins several other streamers that offer ad-supported tiers, including Disney, Hulu, Max, Netflix, and Paramount+.

Natalee Geldert, head of brand media at PMG, expects that clients will “want to dip their toe in the water” to try out advertising on Prime. “Amazon’s a little bit late to the game, but I think with the depth of consumer insights that they have…they will probably release a better go-to-market strategy than we’ve seen from some other streaming providers,” she told us.

Several streaming services have increased prices for their ad-free tiers as of late, in some cases as a way to direct users to their ad-supported offerings.—JS

There are a lot of bad marketing tips out there. These aren’t those.

Like, comment, subscribe: Check out the highlights from a report that surveyed consumers and marketers about social media.

Child’s play: CMOs discussed the impact their kids have had on how they approach their jobs.

Jury’s still out: Key takeaways for advertisers from the DOJ’s ongoing antitrust trial against Google.

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Executive moves across the industry.

• Sarah Lane was promoted to CMO from VP of marketing at CarMax.
• Krishan Bhatia is leaving NBCU, where he was president and chief business officer of global advertising and partnerships.
• Lindsey McNabb Hover left Fig to become BBH’s first CMO.