Lots of newer players here watch all the videos and since most are impressionable kids you see them pick up the discs and wear the clothes that the top pros do.
Pretty much everyone I know that plays in this area watches tournament coverage on YouTube. We even have viewing parties sometimes where we get together to watch a tournament while socializing and eating/drinking. To hear you say that you've never once heard of anyone mention disc golf tournament video is making me wonder what hole do you live in.
I don't doubt it. My point was that there are
also large segments of the disc golf world that don't watch tournament videos. I hear a lot about how-to videos and similar things. I know people who watch live. Tournament videos, not so much.
I'm not saying my experience is universal. Just that yours isn't either. And that attributing the growth of disc golf to tournament videos is a bit of hyperbole; it was growing fast before they existed, and there are lots of things firing its continued growth.
Which hole do I live in? Well, I co-own a brick-&-mortar disc store, where I talk to lots of beginners and casual players. I play tournaments, though admittedly in geezer divisions where you might not expect videos to be the hot topic. I co-own a private course where we get visits from the course-baggers and traveling disc golfers from around the country, and we guide them on their visits so have lots of time to talk. We also run 3 tournaments a year, run out of my house, with camping, so my house and yard are full of disc golfers for 3 days. For 13 years I was an officer in the local club and, and I still attend a few meetings. And, on rare occasions, I simply play disc golf.
Which, of course, proves absolutely nothing. Except I've moved through a number of different parts of the disc golf world, with some anecdotal evidence that people aren't discussing tournament videos everywhere. Maybe they're watching them, but figuring I'm not the sort of person to discuss them with. Who knows?
I also wrote, garnering far less attention, that I don't disparage the videos, nor the people who enjoy them, nor the people who want more tournament videos, and better tournament videos. It's all good.
I just doubt it's the primary factor in the growth of disc golf